Historically, mathematics that initially seemed to have little imaginable practical application later become core to various fields of physics and engineering - non-Euclidean geometry as developed by Gauss-Bolyai-Lobachevsky amd Riemann became the foundation of Einstein's general relativity, number theory became the basis of cryptography (to the likely dismay of GH Hardy), etc.<p>So keep plowing away, mathematicians, at whatever you want to, and don't be surprised if some applied science type picks up the results and uses them for something in the so-called real world (but don't expect many of us to check your proofs, no thanks, taking it all on faith is the norm).