What Mathematicians Do
A mathematician explains research as an endless problem set with no guarantee of solutions.
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Cartoon by Ben Orlin, Math with Bad Drawings. https://cartoons.mathwithbaddrawings.com/2018-04-12-what-mathematicians-do/ (CC BY-NC 4.0)Transcript
A: "So what does a mathematician actually do?" B: "It's like working on a problem set nobody has ever solved before."
A: "How do you know the problems are solvable?" B: "You don't." A: "When do you finish?" B: "Never. There are always more problems."
A: "Honestly, your job sounds like a stress nightmare." B: "That might explain why I keep pulling out clumps of hair..."