I now realize that I've been answering Tragesser's questions as if it
were "what is pure mathematics?" If we also admit what is often called
applied mathematics, my answers, such as they were, would have had to
be more extensive.
I will note that when I told my wife about this discussion (she's also
a mathematician) she said the answer is easy: Mathematics is arithmetic,
geometry, music and astronomy. I wonder where she got that idea? :-)
Gordon Fisher gfisher@shentel.net