Holm is a freelance writer with speculative fiction and nonfiction publications. In this essay, Holm discusses the parallel Hardy draws between the pure mathematician and the artist.

Mathematics may not be the first pursuit that comes to mind when we speak of the creative process. The artist and the mathematician may seem to be on different ends of the spectrum. Storytelling, painting, literature, dance—these appear to be the realm of creative artists. Math, on the other hand, is an "austere" profession, little understood and sometimes feared. In A Mathematician's Apology, G. H. Hardy distinguishes between pure and applied mathematics and compares the pursuit of pure mathematics to the creative process. For the most part, the comparison works.

According to its definition, the word "create" means to bring into being, to make, or to make by giving a new character function or status. Creation is the formulation...