Mathematics is not redundant

I strongly request the Executive Board makes the hard choice, and steps back from the plans to destroy mathematics at the University of Leicester.

Pure math is the foundation of AI and other applied sciences. Without good pure math background, the students will not really understand this subjects, and can not be creative.

Devastating for the university. Mathematics and particularly Pure Mathematics is necessary for the development of Science. Take back this disastrous proposal.

The plan to drop pure maths will cause long term damage to the quality and reputation of the department that remains.

Math is not redundant. Some university bureaucrats are.

I have supervised projects ranging from abstract algebraic geometry to using AI for protein structure prediction. It is all interrelated, and most of the tools used in applied mathematics and machine learning were at some point considered pure mathematics. The proposed plans are incredibly short-sighted.

Without pure maths, there will be no AI, no meaningful computational modelling, and no new in data science. Research in Pure Mathematics is a low-cost investment into the the long-term future of science and technology.

I'm sorry to hear the the University of Leicester is considering downsizing. It's a shame. David Joyce, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Computer Science, Clark University

Pure math is the foundation of all science subjects.

Pure math is scential for applied math

Really, your proposal to do away with research in mathematics at the university level is outrageous, frankly anti-intellectual, and destructive of the project of supporting and extending the foundations of our understanding of the world we live in.

Mathematics is not a static subject. While some of the elementary courses can be covered by teaching-focused lecturers, the more advanced topics benefit enormously from being taught by active practitioners. It would be a disservice to students to deprive them of the insights and experience active researchers bring.

I ask you too reconsider, as I strongly suspect this decision was made by persons who neither know what pure mathematicians do, or what AI research actually involves.

Pure mathematics is essential for AI research

AI studies without proper basis in Pure Mathematics would create a generation of professionals unable to understand and innovate in exactly the field this measure is designed to promote. AI is mathematics!

Pure mathematics bring a lot of change to the world! The world wouldn't be advanced without pure mathematics!

Lack of money? But this proposal will lower the quality of the university.

Poor decision making - naive judgement. As a maths graduate from the University of Leicester (2012) and an AI professional (whatever that means to people within the university), I struggle to fathom the reasoning behind halting pure maths research in pursuit of educating and allowing research in areas such as data science and the broader AI spectrum. An academic institution should be honouring principles and research fundamentals rather than trends and I’m afraid that this decision is seriously jeopardising the university’s very core, it’s academic status and team of researchers. The reasoning behind this decision is not clear and as an alumnus I feel that this decision is a disgrace to all alumni, like myself, as well as current students, researchers and all the people actively involved. The pretext of AI is ludicrous, to say the least, unless of course artificial intelligence is differently understood within the university.

An incredibly ill-informed and short-sighted idea that will greatly damage your institution

Extremely unwise.