Mathematics (from Greek μάθημα máthēma, "knowledge, study, learning") is the study of such topics as quantity, structure, space, and change. It has no generally accepted definition.
Mathematics is a versatile art; it can be applied to widely different purposes. Math has no morality; it does not care what it counts or what it proves.
Brian Stableford, Ashes and Tombstones, in Peter Crowther (ed.) Moon Shots (1999), reprinted in David G. Hartwell (ed.) Year's Best SF 5 (2000), p. 412
Water is essential to life, but every year millions of the chemicals produced together with their reactants and by-products enter the water cycle. Many of these chemicals currently remain unidentified, and the risk posed to human health and the environment cannot be fully determined.