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You cannot really predict that. Number theory was once considered "pure mathematics" in a sense that one could not even imagine practical applications for check

by mamon 7y ago

You cannot really predict that. Number theory was once considered "pure mathematics" in a sense that one could not even imagine practical applications for checking if a number is a prime or not. And then someone invented cryptography... EDIT: For all those nitpicking downvoters: yes, I meant public key cryptography.

zeroonetwothree 7y ago
Cryptography predates number theory. Probably you mean public key cryptography.
lou1306 7y ago
To be fair, cryptography and number theory have coexisted without much overlap from centuries (millennia?). Then, the rise of mechanized cryptanalysis forced us to look for hard-to-break ways to encrypt stuff, and prime factorization was a very good candidate.
ska 7y ago
That's not really a useful definition of "pure" mathematics. Also cryptography is one of the oldest applications, and has interacted with a variety of sub-disciplines in mathematics for basically ever.