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Originally Posted by Qfwfq
Like any language, German, Hindi etc... it can be used to represent facts about reality. A mathematician is however not in the least concerned with reality. The sentence "Every cow is an excellent Tango dancer" is a perfectly correct, spotless English sentence, regardless of reality.
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I take exception to that. I am a mathematician, and I am totally concerned with reality. "4 + 3 = 8" is a perfectly correct, spotless mathematical expression. It is also contra-reality ((WRONG)) and therefore worthless.
I disagree that mathematics is a "language". We only say things like that, and confuse ourselves in the process, because we have no abstract meta-word ((class)) to include 'mathematics' and 'German' as members. We try to cram 'mathematics' into the class of 'languages' and do ourselves a great disservice. When we speak of math as a 'language' on a par with German, we muddy the conversational waters. And we wind up making deductions about as worthless as "4 + 3 = 8".
