Proof you can do hard things
I <i>really</i> despise all the "why you should care about math" takes.<p>The question is never asked about any other school subject and only mathematics has to justify itself that way. I had to learn about categories of plants and animals, interpret 20th century literature, learn about events from a thousand years ago, I did presentations on the demographics of European countries, how certain chemicals react and much, much more. I never used any of that knowledge for anything, certainly not in my career or in university.<p>But somehow <i>mathematics</i> is the one field which needs to justify its own existence? Mathematics needs to bend itself over and "be relevant" so that people will actually learn about it? Why? Why not ask the same of any other subject.<p>Justifying mathematics is easy, especially such a universally applicable subject as calculus. But I see no reason why it should have to justify itself in any way.