Approach your problems from the right It isn't that they can't see the
solution. end and begin with the answers. Then, It is that they can't
see the problem. one day, perhaps you will find the final G.K.
Chesterton, The Scandal of Fa- question. ther Brown 'The point of a
Pin'. 'The Hermit Clad in Crane Feathers' in R. Van Gulik's The Chinese
Maze Murders. Growing specialization and diversification have brought a
host of mono- graphs and textbooks on increasingly specialized topics.
However, the "tree" of knowledge of mathematics and related fields does
not grow only by putting forth new branches. It also happens, quite
often in fact, that branches which were thought to be completely
disparate are suddenly seen to be related. Further, the kind and level
of sophistication of mathematics applied in various sciences has changed
drastically in recent years: measure theory is used (non-trivially) in
regional and theoretical economics; algebraic geometry interacts with
physics; the Minkowsky lemma, cod- ing theory and the structure of water
meet one another in packing and covering theory; quantum fields, crystal
defects and mathematical pro- gramming profit from homotopy theory; Lie
algebras are relevant to filtering; and prediction and electrical
engineering can use Stein spaces.