# Doing Math in Jest: Reflections on Useless Math, the Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics, and the Ethical Obligations of Mathematicians

• Published in 2018
In the collection
Mathematicians occasionally discover interesting truths even when they are playing with mathematical ideas with no thoughts about possible consequences of their actions. This paper describes two specific instances of this phenomenon. The discussion touches upon the theme of the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics as well as the ethical obligations of mathematicians.

### BibTeX entry

@article{DoingMathinJestReflectionsonUselessMaththeUnreasonableEffectivenessofMathematicsandtheEthicalObligationsofMathematicians,
title = {Doing Math in Jest: Reflections on Useless Math, the Unreasonable  Effectiveness of Mathematics, and the Ethical Obligations of Mathematicians},
abstract = {Mathematicians occasionally discover interesting truths even when they are
playing with mathematical ideas with no thoughts about possible consequences of
their actions. This paper describes two specific instances of this phenomenon.
The discussion touches upon the theme of the unreasonable effectiveness of
mathematics as well as the ethical obligations of mathematicians.},
url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/1812.09601v1 http://arxiv.org/pdf/1812.09601v1},
year = 2018,
author = {Gizem Karaali},
comment = {},
urldate = {2019-01-01},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
eprint = {1812.09601},
primaryClass = {math.HO},
collections = {The act of doing maths}
}