About mathematics and school mathematics
I used to be a mathematician, but when capitalism came, I had to give up regular classes in mathematics and pursue other activities. This fate befell a great many Russians who were forced to give up their profession. Friends, colleagues, and acquaintances sometimes ask me how I endured this catastrophe in my life, how I managed to give up mathematics, to which I had previously devoted myself completely? Strangely enough, it was easy. The fact seems to be that I have not given up mathematics by stopping to do mathematics regularly and to publish papers on mathematics. I think mathematically, I have not abandoned the mathematical style of expressing my thoughts orally or in writing, so I continue to consider myself a mathematician. Mathematics is not something that can be abandoned.
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