As you can see, there are many different perspectives on this issue.
]]>Regarding your initial question, about mathematicians' motivation for doing mathematics: As you probably know, the Notices of the American Math Society are freely available on the AMS website, and frequently contain interviews with celebrated mathematicians (in particular with Abel Prize winners, if I am remembering correctly); it is also easy to find online interviews with various recent Fields Medal winners. If you read these interviews, you will get a sense of the motivations of these mathematicians, and I don't think that there is that much reason to believe that the motivations of less celebrated mathematicians are particular different. This seems like a more fruitful way to understand the motivations of professional mathematicians than attempting to survey MO users. (As others have already noted, conducting such surveys is not really appropriate for MO, which is suppose to be a place for questions of interest to research mathematicians, not questions about research mathematicians.)
]]>If you have managed -- against steep odds and heavy competition -- to make a permanent living doing mathematics, you might as well be a gracious winner.
Can't you guys just act like rappers and be anything but gracious winners? It's funnier to watch. ;)
]]>This is just my opinion, of course. Some would call my attitude patronizing. I think of it like this: if you have managed -- against steep odds and heavy competition -- to make a permanent living doing mathematics, you might as well be a gracious winner.
]]>;)
]]>yes, you misunderstood my intent. I wanted to suggest that if you didn't understand why your question was closed, you should ask on meta, or argue there against the closure.
]]>That said, I want to venture one "off-topic" remark: I don't think your list should be expanded - indeed, there are several items on it that in my view need serious clarification/development, possibly even excision. It seems like you want an anthropological study done by getting the subjects of the study to do the work for you.
Craig: I suggest that if you sincerely want an answer to your original question, you go and discuss it with some professional mathematicians over a beer, coffee or other social beverage, or chat with them on whichever electronic forum (e-pub?) people use for such things.
]]>Why can't I get a single answer to this question and why was this question closed on MO? I wonder.
Because MO is not the place to ask it.
When Scott suggested you go to meta, he meant to ask about whether the question was acceptable (which it isn't), not to ask the question itself.
]]>@Craig: I don't see how it relates to your original question either. But your non-answer to Robin Chapman's query certainly didn't help. The open-ended nature of your question is essentially asking us to reproduce our research statements that we write for job/grant applications.
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