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> Who needs pure math research?

Every single human being who banks over the Internet, which, given how banks work now, is every single human being who has funds in a modern money economy.

I know, I know, but it's my favorite example: Number theory was held up as the exemplar of math-for-math's-sake pure mathematics until suddenly it was the foundation of cryptography. In the words of Chuck Berry, "Goes to show you never can tell."



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