Hasnain says:

"In fact, hostility to mathematics is endemic in
our culture. Imagine a conversation:

A: What do you do?
B: I am a ———.
A: Oh, I hate that.

Ideally this response would be limited to such occupations as “serial killer”, “child pornographer”,
and maybe “politician”, but “mathematician” seems
to work. It is common enough that many of us are
reluctant to identify ourselves as mathematicians.
Paul Halmos is said to have told outsiders that he
was in “roofing and siding”!"

A pretty good read, titled "A Revolution in Mathematics? What Really Happened a Century Ago and Why It Matters Today"

Posted on 2013-03-11T07:04:20+0000