I couldn't find a thread like this anywhere (I searched through a number of pages), so I decided to make it. If I am wrong, then please merge; I've been known to be blind while exhausted D:
So, is math invented or discovered?
Be advised that math means different things to different people; for some it's a process, others it's a fact, others it's a concept, etc. and so on and so forth. So I suppose the easiest way for anybody to start here is to define exactly what they think math is. After that, do you think it is invented, discovered, or otherwise? Why? What leads you to this conclusion, and what do you feel is part of your background that led you to think in this way?
This is a debate thread, so I would advise more than just stating your beliefs; if you find something you disagree with written by somebody else, then say so! Talk, discuss, debate, but flame and you'll be toasted like a marshmallow over my firey passion.
So what is math to me? It is, to me, a process by which we interpret the world around us. In essence, we see something, and then we add that something together with our learning and make an interpretation. My actual belief is far more in-depth than this (I just finished writing a discussion folder for a Math class that involved this very question), but that is it in a nutshell. This arises mainly from the way I've come to experience other people; it is the way I see the world act around me that leads me to believe that math is a process of understanding. More than this, though, I feel that math is a process of creating. The best mathematicians don't just solve problems, they ask questions and look for ways of innovating the world around them. All hail Gauss!
So is math invented or discovered? To be honest...I don't know. And to be even more frank, I do not see the importance of knowing such, and by extension really do not care. Math is like religion in that if it has any origin, the origin itself is irrelevant to the present state. Don't get me wrong; history is MASSIVELY important when discussing both math and religion, but origins are not. When we discuss math and religion, we discuss it in such a way that we acknowledge it as a fact: it exists. Regardless of whether we believe it, the fact is that somebody else does. Unlike religion, however, math is present in all cultures of the world in some form; it's not like the triune god vs. pantheon vs. non-personal reality in that it is contested by other forms of itself; through formulas, identities, and other tools we can say that the ancient Mayan math can be translated into ancient Babylonian, which in turn can be translated into Egyptian and then into Greek and so on and so forth until it comes to our modern day concept of math, which all the ancient forms can also be translated into directly. We can, therefore, argue that math exists in the absence of compelling evidence to the contrary. Regardless of whether it is discovered or invented, it does exist.
So, is math invented or discovered?
Be advised that math means different things to different people; for some it's a process, others it's a fact, others it's a concept, etc. and so on and so forth. So I suppose the easiest way for anybody to start here is to define exactly what they think math is. After that, do you think it is invented, discovered, or otherwise? Why? What leads you to this conclusion, and what do you feel is part of your background that led you to think in this way?
This is a debate thread, so I would advise more than just stating your beliefs; if you find something you disagree with written by somebody else, then say so! Talk, discuss, debate, but flame and you'll be toasted like a marshmallow over my firey passion.
So what is math to me? It is, to me, a process by which we interpret the world around us. In essence, we see something, and then we add that something together with our learning and make an interpretation. My actual belief is far more in-depth than this (I just finished writing a discussion folder for a Math class that involved this very question), but that is it in a nutshell. This arises mainly from the way I've come to experience other people; it is the way I see the world act around me that leads me to believe that math is a process of understanding. More than this, though, I feel that math is a process of creating. The best mathematicians don't just solve problems, they ask questions and look for ways of innovating the world around them. All hail Gauss!
So is math invented or discovered? To be honest...I don't know. And to be even more frank, I do not see the importance of knowing such, and by extension really do not care. Math is like religion in that if it has any origin, the origin itself is irrelevant to the present state. Don't get me wrong; history is MASSIVELY important when discussing both math and religion, but origins are not. When we discuss math and religion, we discuss it in such a way that we acknowledge it as a fact: it exists. Regardless of whether we believe it, the fact is that somebody else does. Unlike religion, however, math is present in all cultures of the world in some form; it's not like the triune god vs. pantheon vs. non-personal reality in that it is contested by other forms of itself; through formulas, identities, and other tools we can say that the ancient Mayan math can be translated into ancient Babylonian, which in turn can be translated into Egyptian and then into Greek and so on and so forth until it comes to our modern day concept of math, which all the ancient forms can also be translated into directly. We can, therefore, argue that math exists in the absence of compelling evidence to the contrary. Regardless of whether it is discovered or invented, it does exist.
