More often than not, a piece of mathematics worked out years before—and believed to be totally without practical value—finds a role in the “real” world.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "More often than not, a piece of mathematics worked out years before—and believed to be totally without practical value—finds a role in the “real” world." in the context of "Ivars Peterson (1998), The Mathematical Tourist page: 9, publisher: Barnes & Noble, ISBN: 0-7607-2361-3" to mean that wisdom is timeless.