Math.HO: History and overview: used for
understanding mathematics as a social and human endeavor
considering alternative approaches that historically have been used to explore quantifiable relationships
to learn teach us that no mathematical ideas appear in empty social space: every idea its a child of its time. It is application of HO to mathematics itself
One real-world application of mathematics is set forth in Bill Thurston's far-sighted essay On Proof and Progress in Mathematics (arXiv:math/9404236v1 [math.HO]), that purpose being, to provide foundations for social enterprise.
With more than 300 references, On Proof and Progress in Mathematics is among the most-cited of all the arxiv's [math.HO] articles.
Nowadays many influential essays in systems engineering (for example) draw implicitly upon Thurston's influential ideas regarding the central role of mathematics in social enterprises ... it is not only mathematicians who are reading and reflecting upon these ideas.
