Williams (1961) identifies the ‘old humanists’ who value humanistic studies for their own sake. Such studies have included mathematics since ancient times. Plato, for example, advocated the study of pure disciplines with the ‘power of turning the soul’s eye from the material world to objects of pure thought… yielding a priori certain knowledge of immutable and eternal objects and truths. ‘(Plato ,1941,page 230). Only pure subjects (including mathematics) were considered appropriate for study, practical Knowledge and ‘the manual crafts...were all rather degrading’ (Plato,1941,page232)