Math: Did we discover or create it?

[Qfwfq]

Originally Posted by CraigD

I take the additional step of asserting that reasoning is itself a collection of axioms in a formal system that, in the sense that it is used to create the description of every formal system ever described by a human being, has existed effectively forever. Whether this “bootstrap” formal system was discovered, created, and if so by what or whom, is a question that gets very deep very quickly!

Actually, it's the set of inference rules. These, a priori, may be chosen quite arbitrarily but the formal systems useful for reasoning are those that include the inference rules of logic. These can however be generalized, just like anything in mathematics.

hmmm......... lets see.........

would it be fair to say math is a science?

and science is observation, study, and experimenting of an unique incident.. /..occasion to find the nature and principles of that incident... /...occasion

so all three sides of the poll are correct.

...the only thing faster than light is your mind... ....chendoh.....

[Skywyze]

Mathematics is a language we created to describe the underlying, unchangeable quanta that we interact with in everyday life.

Our understanding of the laws has improved, and so our methods of describing them have improved.

[alishah]

Math is a discovery . it was always present there on universe . all things in this universe are obeying rules and laws of mathematics . so we were unaware of math before it now we are aware of it .

[ughaibu]

I'm toying with the idea that maths is neither an invention nor a set of discoveries but something more along the lines of the manifestation of a morbid compulsion to tidy and arrange thought, an irrational obsession with rationality. I like the possibility that maths could be a species of (mass) psychopathology as expectable in larger societies, as are such developments as prostitution, murder, religion, etc.

[orbsycli]

it's always happening.

[Qfwfq]

Originally Posted by ughaibu

I'm toying with the idea that maths is neither an invention nor a set of discoveries but something more along the lines of the manifestation of a morbid compulsion to tidy and arrange thought, an irrational obsession with rationality. I like the possibility that maths could be a species of (mass) psychopathology as expectable in larger societies, as are such developments as prostitution, murder, religion, etc.

IOW we created math, just like we created prostitution, murder, religion, etc.

[ughaibu]

I'm assuming a distinction between this kind of effect and invention/creation, in that the latter are products of intent.

[Qfwfq]

No intent behind prostitution, murder, religion, etc?

[ughaibu]

I can imagine there being cases in which prostitution was consciously instituted but probably in a transplanted sense. I understand that there's intention behind individual acts of murder, prostitution and mathematics but, in any case, you have a point, I'll have a go at rethinking my similes.