Why study mathematics 

There are many good reasons to study mathematics, but the following is
particularly compelling.  Look around the web ( HERE  for
example) to find other reasons.

Conrad Hilton says the following about how mathematics helped him
build his empire.  (Conrad Hilton founded Hilton Hotels; he is the
great-grandfather of Paris Hilton.  Quote taken from Volume 44, No. 3,
p.932 of the Notices of the American Mathematical Society.)

"I'm not out to convince anyone that calculus, or even algebra and
geometry, are necessities in the hotel business. But I will argue long
and loud that they are not useless ornaments pinned onto an average
man's education. For me, at any rate, the ability to formulate
quickly, to resolve any problem into its simplest, clearest form, has
been exceedingly useful. It is true that you do not use algebraic
formulae but in those three small brick buildings at Socorro I found
higher mathematics the best possible exercise for developing the
mental muscles necessary to this process.

"In later years, I was to be faced with large financial problems,
enormous business deals with as many ramifications as an octopus has
arms, where bankers, lawyers, consultants, all threw in their
particular bit of information. It is always necessary to listen
carefully to the powwow, but in the end someone has to put them all
together, see the actual problem for what it is, and make a
decision---come up with an answer. A thorough training in the mental
disciplines of mathematics precludes any tendency to be fuzzy, to be
misled by red herrings, and I can only believe that my two years at
the School of Mines helped me to see quickly what the actual problem
was---and where the problem is, the answer is. Any time you have two
times two and know it, you are bound to have four."