Here we show that the common perception of the field of mathematics is not congruent to what the field really is. Dictionary definitions of the word ’mathematics’ are taken as indicative of the popular understanding. To discover the true meaning a questionnaire was circulated around the world (to 7705 individuals and 2339 institutions) and answered by 247 professional mathematicians from 37 countries. All gave a definition of mathematics and the picture emerging from the results is quite radically different from that of dictionaries. The proffered definitions are discussed and a digested definition given at the end of this paper for future consideration. We believe that for the first time a new definition was created based on a democratic poll of a large number of professionals in the relevant field.
