Have you ever pondered about the wonder of math?

Question

Math is something that is created by human as a tool to describe our nature. All theoretical physics and even computational algorithms originate from some form of mathematical formulation. Where does the knowledge of math, number, counting, geometry came from in the first place? Do you think math is an intrinsic property of mother nature and so it is also imprinted in our mind, naturally? Is it possible to describe nature using something other than math (ie. planetary motions, fluid dynamics, mechanics)?

Answer 1

Math applies so widely because it is the most abstract science - more abstract even than philosophy. Math is what you are left with when you remove all content from knowledge.

Don't be impressed by the argument that math is invented (rather than discovered) because some mathematical objects violate the logical law that all propositions are either true or false. There are also plenty of non-math propositions that violate that law. For example, "there is going to be a naval battle tomorrow" will be true if indeed there is a naval battle tomorrow, but nobody can know if it's true or false today. (That example dates back to Aristotle, by the way).

Math is discovered, not invented. This is shown by the historical fact that some of what was originally developed as 'pure math' (that is, math for which no application was known) has later been found to be applicable to the world and has led the way to new scientific discoveries. How could math that was 'invented' be later found to apply to new knowledge about the empirical world?

Answer 2

Math is our way of describing physical relationships between various things. Put an extra apple on the table and you have the concept of y = x + 1, but really those are just placeholders decribing a relationship (in this case, one of before/after). Geometry describes the relationships found in shapes--trigonometry restricts itself only to angles. The fundamental relationships of the natural world are studied in physics.

What man has done is recognized that these relationships exist and built ways of describing them and a method of studying them. The description is math, the method we call the "scientific method". Notice I said "physical relationships" above. There are other ways of describing relationships that aren't easily studied by math. The relationships between people, for example, or the relationship between what we call "bad" actions and the kinds of consequences that generally result from them.

So to answer your question, I'd say since the relationships are a part of nature, some form of mathematics is bound to spring from a curious mind--not because it's imprinted, but because the relationships are all around us, and we would be blind not to see them eventually and take note.

As to the last part of your question, math may be the most natural and effective way we know of for studying physical things, but there are other ways...heuristics mostly. The greeks used to explain the chemical world as composing four elements: earth, air, fire and water. Fire is the highest, then air, then water, then earth, and they will always seek to stay in that order, which is why smoke rises and water ends up in the sea. Not mathematical, but useful in some ways.

Answer 3

Math cannot be a part of Nature.
Everything in nature is either true or false.
Math however has statements that are neither true nor false.
For example the "continuum hypothesis" is PROVED to be neither provable nor disprovable.[1]
What's more math IN PRINCIPLE will always produce such paradoxes if it includes natural numbers.[2]
Thus natural numbers are unlikely to be a part of original nature because they lead to paradoxes.

Answer 4

Yes i have come to think of that but have you also thought about the wonders of science...and literature...and religion...and everything else that we use in our daily lives to help get by...Math is simply an invention...like the toaster or the post it note...its used to make advances in culture...have you ever thought...have all the properties of math been discovered...is there more to the riddle?

Answer 5

I think math is too perfect to have been "created" by humans. I think it naturally exists. Without it, we couldn't explain physics, medicine, economics or most other sciences.

Answer 6

Not really, no. I was into it, right up until we got to imaginary numbers. 'This is where the two lines on the graph would intersect, if they intersected, but they don't, so it's imaginary.' At a certain point, you've got to wonder if mathematicians are making this stuff up to justify their own existence.

Answer 7

WOW that is son deep I can't answer and I love math.

Answer 8

be.