Some Current Trends in Mathematical Research

Abstract

One of the most striking features of modern mathematics is the high degree of specialization of the individual researcher. The result of this is that workers in one area are apt to be totally ignorant of many other areas (and sometimes even proud of this fact). The mathematician’s attitude to other disciplines such as physics and economics—in which the workers are interested not in mathematics per se but only in its applications to their problems—is something like: “I try to help everyone, but I have also my own concerns.”