[brian_cloutier]

You might consider reading Hardy's A Mathematician's Apology. It gives an argument for studying math for the sake of math. Personally, reading a beautiful proof can be as compelling as reading a beautiful poem and needs no further justification.

However, there is another reason to read this essay. Hardy gives a few examples of fields of math which are entirely useless. Number theory, he claims, has absolutely no applications. The study of non-euclidean geometry, he claims, has absolutely no applications. History has proven him dramatically wrong, “pure” math has a way of becoming indispensable

[baruchel]

I have always been fond of the following quote by Jacobi: “Mathematics exists solely for the honor of the human mind”

[zchrykng]

I have no problem studying Math just to study Math. I read the title and jumped to some conclusions, I'm afraid. Was talking to a friend about String Theory and their 11+ dimensions the other day and that is immediately where my brain went to with this one. The article is interesting even though I have zero desire to personally study math just for math's sake.