>>The second argument is the one I always hear around the mathematics department: mathematics helps you to think clearly. I have a very low opinion of this self

>>The second argument is the one I always hear around the mathematics department: mathematics helps you to think clearly. I have a very low opinion of this self-serving nonsense. In sports there is the concept of the specificity of skills: if you want to improve your racquetball game, don't practice squash! The analogy with sports fails miserably and the author seems to not understand this. Math is a brain skill and we do need to apply brain to understand a given situation in a better manner, to abstract away some things and focus on some other things. So, if you expect someone to better understand complex situations, then you need them to have some knowledge of higher math. One may ask where do you encounter such situations? Insurance, debates of fiscal policies, debates about racial biases and social structures, anything to do with modern finance, language structures, medical decisions. Take your pick. So, if you have to do anything complicated in such social areas too, you need to have some knowledge of higher math. Skills in sports are not of such versatile nature, hence the analogy fails.