Enterprises of great pith and moment

Abstract

It has of ten been a melancholy experience to hear a cadet ask me what the point of aDDS, determinant or continuous function is. I heard similar questions when I was teaching at Rutgers. Sometimes they were asked out of genuine curiosity, but more often they have been out of sheer frustration and disinterest. Indeed, there is nothing more dis-heartening than hearing skepticism about the value of your intellectual activities.