> Few would call mathematics an art, though, or would they? I'm not sure. Many would, precisely because it is not empirical, as indicated by the fact that math

> Few would call mathematics an art, though, or would they? I'm not sure. Many would, precisely because it is not empirical, as indicated by the fact that mathematics departments are often in Arts faculties. As Sir Michael Atiyah put it: "The art in good mathematics, and mathematics is an art, is to identify and tackle problems that are both interesting and solvable." Mathematicians will often wax philosophical when speaking about mathematical beauty and elegance, which is widely considered to be a central pursuit of mathematics, second only to correctness. The problem here is that too many people are trying to use the word "science" to mean "the only thing that produces knowledge", in which case "mathematics is not a science, but does produce knowledge" is a heretical statement, even though a sizable portion of mathematicians would agree with it.