The National Science Foundation is the major non-university
source of research support for the academic mathematical
sciences in the United States. Assessing the performance of NSF
in this area is then equivalent to assessing the performance and
health of U.S. academic mathematics and the impact of academic
mathematics on users of mathematics in university, industry, and
government.  At the same time, assessing the value of
mathematics by measuring the return on public investment cannot
be done by simply comparing the amount of expenditure on
mathematics with the amount of wealth created. The "effects" of
mathematics may not be immediate, or direct, or attributable to
a single funded program. A more accurate assessment of the field
requires one to accept the consensus view of all branches of
science and technology -- that support for mathematics is
essential -- and to ask whether that support is producing health
within mathematics and a valued impact outside it.  The Panel
concluded that the most accurate way