“Relevance” has been a favorite concept in the last few years. Questions about the relevance of an institution, an activity, or a subject are often asked (and less often answered). We take it that relevance must refer, at least implicitly, to a relation with some body of values or purposes. Thus a subject may be relevant in the first instance by way of its applications to another subject—which in its turn may then be tested for its further relevance, ultimately to human welfare or to an overriding conception of the good. In short, the relevance of mathematics involves both the various applications of mathematics and the position of mathematics in the spectrum of human values.
Browder, Felix E., Mac Lane, S., The Relevance of Mathematics, in Mathematics Today; Twelve Informal Essays, L. A. Steen, ed., Springer, New York, NY, 1978.
