Number Theory has long cherished the reputation of having no practical use. Actually, there are numerous interesting applications from modern cryptography, X-ray astronomy and quasicrystals to precision measurements in general relativity and the design of better sounding concert halls. (M. R. Schroeder: "Number Theory in Science and Communication, 3rd ed., Springer 1999).

Manfred Schroeder holds 45 US patents for inventions in speech processing and other fields. He has won the Gold Medal of the Audio Engineering Society, the Rayleigh Medal from the British Institute of Acoustics and the Helmholtz Medal from the German Acoustical Society. In 1991, the Acoustical Society of America awarded him the Gold Medal "for his theoretical and practical contributions to human communication through innovative applications of mathematics to speech, hearing, and concert hall acoustics". Schroeder is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the New York and Goettingen Academies. He has written two books: "Number Theory in Science and Communication" and "Fractals, Chaos, Power Laws: Minutes from an Infinite Paradise."