> They're busy thinking about much more important things. Generally I agree (because the content of modern mathematics is largely abstract), but to nitpick a b

> They're busy thinking about much more important things. Generally I agree (because the content of modern mathematics is largely abstract), but to nitpick a bit, number theory is part of mathematics too! Ramanujan and Euler, for example, certainly cared a lot about 'arithmetic', and historically, many parts of mathematics have been just as 'empirical' in terms of calculating things as they've been based on abstract proof.