For example, combinatorics, even in 2026, is still recognizably about counting stuff, just like when the field first got started centuries ago, arguably in ancient Greece. On the other hand, modern geometry is not at all recognizable from Euclid's "draw some shapes with straight edge and compass" origins. Seriously, I randomly picked 5 papers each from arXiv's algebraic geometry and differential geometry sections published last week, and not one of them even had a figure. So I wonder which field has drifted the least/most from its origin? How about your own field? submitted by /u/johnlee3013 [link] [comments]