exposure: what does maths look like, to non-mathematicians?

sometimes i wonder if the general public expects maths professors to do scholarly research in the same frequency (or smaller) as literature teachers who are also authors. [1]

it would make sense that to teach the inner workings of a particular subject, it would be helpful to create or to know how to create such academic works.

i say "smaller" because the layperson can more likely imagine what literary work looks logs, but have probably never seen what a maths research article looks like ..

( possibly to be continued.. )

[1] far be it, of course, for me to expect society to bother thinking about academics and academia, unless it's an issue of budget cuts to education ..