Exploring South Africa's southern frontier : a 20-year vision for polar research through the South African National Antarctic Programme

Mathematics is central to the modern discipline of economics, although there has always been some dispute about the value of this relationship. Leijonhufvud, in his satire of the economics profession, declared that the ‘Math-Econ’(mathematical economists) appeared to be the high priests of this tribe. There was debate on whether their work was ‘best to be regarded as religious, folklore and mythology, philosophical and ‘scientific’, or as sports and games’. In this commentary I want to consider whether the role of mathematics goes beyond ‘sports and games’ in economics and reflect on some of the ways in which mathematics is used in economics in general and in South African economics in particular.