To follow up on this comment, I think that math should be viewed as a giant tree structure or pyramid At the bottom are all sorts of applications of linear alg

To follow up on this comment, I think that math should be viewed as a giant tree structure or pyramid At the bottom are all sorts of applications of linear algebra and optimization (calculus) are related to machine learning, deep learning (AI), physics, engineering etc. One level up there are all sorts of ideas in algebra and mathematical analysis that are leading to new ideas in linear algebra and optimization (calculus) Going one level higher, there are ideas in mathematical logic and set theory that are improving our understanding our algebra and analysis. If you look at a specific result at the very top of the pyramid as ask why does it matter? It is difficult to give a good answer. Clearly we want to base of the pyramid, but do we need to keep building it up? Should we stop at a certain level?