Is this true of mathematics, that it is a human construct and could be different in a different universe, or is it universal and cannot be any other way.
2007-12-02 05:44:10 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Other - Science
Most mathematicians would agree, I think, that the prime numbers and all their properties existed before any humans. We have discovered them, not constructed them. There are certain other parts of mathematics which it could be argued we have developed in a particular way because of some feature of the natural world as it appears to humans, but there are sure to be some mathematicians who would not agree even to that.
Quantum physicists have recently found close correlations between their predictions of quantum behaviour and mathematicians' knowledge of the behaviour of the zeroes of the Riemann Zeta function. If the correspondence was found to be more than just a coincidence, it would be because prime numbers somehow dictate the interactions among the fundamental particles in our universe. Perhaps a universe with different fundamental particles would self-destruct or collapse, and in that sense it is only the prime numbers which give stability to our universe.
2007-12-03 01:11:33 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are simply a defined class of integer with a certain property. They are a human construct only if you consider integers, or even mathematics, a human construct.
The quotation, "God may not play dice with the universe, but something strange is going on with the prime numbers." has been attributed to Paul ErdÅs.
Leopold Kronecker said, "God made the integers; all else is the work of man"
The quotes are humorous, but discrete properties abound in nature. And if quantum physics tells us what I think it does, even those properties we consider continuous are discrete at the quantum scale. That would make the integers fundamental. Yet I'm hard pressed to think of anything fundamental about primes.
2007-12-03 01:32:26 · answer #2 · answered by Frank N 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They are certainly not a human construct. They are an intrinsic feature of the integers, and are an unchangeable mathematical truth, which will be the same in all universes.
2007-12-02 14:09:34 · answer #3 · answered by Martin 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I woulds say it is quite natural. For example suppose there
are 23 nuts () and some squirrels that wanted to eat them. No matter how many squirrels there are, they can't divide them in equal parts.
2007-12-02 13:52:52 · answer #4 · answered by daniel79 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋