>Modern mathematics, like much of science, often isn't directed at real world problems. So is ancient mathematics. And non ancient mathematics. A lot of good

>Modern mathematics, like much of science, often isn't directed at real world problems. So is ancient mathematics. And non ancient mathematics. A lot of good mathematics is inspired or comes from real-world problems, but even more does not. At a very fundamental level, mathematics is a curious exploration of an interesting "What if...", where you get to make up whatever you want in that "...", and see where it gets you.