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Math: Invention or Discovery?

Math can be both discovered and invented. While mathematical structures exist in nature, mathematicians invent techniques and proofs to describe these structures. Some experts believe math is discovered because there are underlying systems in the universe that can be found, but mathematicians invent methods to represent them. Others argue math is invented because it was created by the human mind to describe the physical world and our mathematical concepts only approximate reality. The document discusses differing views on whether math reflects eternal truths or is a human construct.

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129 views1 page

Math: Invention or Discovery?

Math can be both discovered and invented. While mathematical structures exist in nature, mathematicians invent techniques and proofs to describe these structures. Some experts believe math is discovered because there are underlying systems in the universe that can be found, but mathematicians invent methods to represent them. Others argue math is invented because it was created by the human mind to describe the physical world and our mathematical concepts only approximate reality. The document discusses differing views on whether math reflects eternal truths or is a human construct.

Uploaded by

LunimeBoys GL
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Jasenrae E.

Sayson/BS Philosophy Activity 2


GEC104 A6 1/27/2020

Is Math Invented or Discovered

In the history, there were times or periods when people considered that every

time they were doing mathematics, they were in fact discovering something that was

already there; and times when they believed that they were inventing more methods

and tools to help them write what their mind was thinking. Some say there is no

absolute truth in this world because people have different perspective and claims of

what they’ve learned. For instance, some experts would say that Math is both

discovered and invented because even before mathematicians knew that there’s an

infinite number of primes, there are discoverable systems that underlines the

structure of the universe but they were made using techniques invented by

mathematicians. Showing it is true, however, requires the invention of a proof and

mathematicians have devised hundreds of different techniques capable of proving

the theorem. From mathematical Platonism, it is said that Math is innate, t he reason

mathematics is the natural language of science, is that the universe is

underpinned by the same order. The structures of mathematics are intrinsic to

nature. Moreover, if the universe disappeared tomorrow, our eternal

mathematical truths would still exist. From the non- Platonist position, it is said

that the only reason mathematics is admirably suited describing the physical

world is that we invented it to do just that. It is a product of the human mind and

we make mathematics up as we go along to suit our purposes in other words,

Math is human construct (Derek Abbot). I think that mathematics is invented

because it’s just a creation of human mind, the analytical mathematical

equations only approximately describe the real world, and even then only

describe a limited subset of all the phenomena around us.

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