What is Applied Math


It sounds funny, but I'm never sure about the meaning of the expression "applied math." To make it clear, consider numerical analysis. It's often considered to be a part of applied math, but is it? I'd say NO. I'd say that applications are an important for numerical analysts as a motivation. But it has no importance whatsoever in the analysis itself.
If you consider numerical analysis to be applied math, what about PDE? Dynamical systems? Functional analysis? Of course, the "link" goes weaker as the list goes, but where to stop? Anyway, I like the definition given by David Munford in an interview at SIAM News: