ABSTRACT
In this chapter we shall examine the appropriate relationship of mathematics to the subjects of economic study. Few divisions on substantive questions in economic science have been as bitter as the dispute which has occurred on this question of choice of methods, with charges of sophistry and humbug being periodically traded in private and in print between the more and the less mathematical among economists. The weapons of ‘intemperate discussion, namely invective, sarcasm, personality and the like’ have not been spared, not only by those in a minority at some university department to whom they might bring ‘the praise of honest zeal and righteous indignation’,1 but also by those in comfortable if temporary majorities.
