It’s long been debated whether mathematical truths are “discovered” or “invented”. The answer becomes clearer when you dig into what math actually is.
In my opinion, math is a language for describing patterns, relationships and rules. It’s just like any language except (1) it’s far more precise than normal language, and (2) unlike human languages, its domain is limited to only describing patterns and relationships and rules. In English, you can talk about birds AND equations related to bird ...
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philosophy of mathematics
Is Math True?
Mathematics is often thought to be universally and unassailably true. Some people even argue that even an omnipotent God couldn’t make math false.
But can mathematicians actually prove that math is true? If they can’t, does the fact that math is so useful in solving real-world problems provide evidence of its truth? And, if mathematics is not true, then does that imply that conclusions drawn from it are faulty or suspect? Let’s explore those questions.
The first attempt we might take to p...
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