You really never know what mathematics discoveries can do. Number theory was an useless brach of mathematics, considered an useless endeavor of theoretical mathematics and basically a hobby. Until modern computation and the RSA algorithm gave number theory an use, and without it, the internet as we know it, couldn't exist.

[–] gregorum@lemm.ee 16 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

now you’re reminding me of that West Wing episode wherein they were asking what the point of investing in a superconducting supercollider was:

Discovery.

Not long after that episode aired, the Higgs-Boson was discovered at the LHC.

[–] OmnipotentEntity 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

That episode aired in March 2002.

LHC began operating in 2010 and the Higgs Boson was confirmed in 2012.

The focus of the 2002 episode was on the SSC, the boondoggle of a collider that was being built in Texas and was cancelled in 1993.

[–] gregorum@lemm.ee 2 points 9 months ago

oh, hmm...

[–] rooster_butt@lemm.ee 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

a or an is based on the next words consonant or vowel sound. It's a useless and a use. Because the word use has a y sound not a u sound. An example of a u word that uses an would be an umpire.

Sorry on mobile so adding quotes is a pain.