Is math discovered or invented? - Jeff Dekofsky
3,103,834
Published 2014-10-27
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Would mathematics exist if people didn't? Did we create mathematical concepts to help us understand the world around us, or is math the native language of the universe itself? Jeff Dekofsky traces some famous arguments in this ancient and hotly debated question.
Lesson by Jeff Dekofsky, animation by The Tremendousness Collective.
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All Comments (21)
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We discovered math, but we invented numbers and symbols to understand them
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Best answer I've heard: The questions are invented, the answers are discovered
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I feel like mathematics is a language to describe things. The language is made up but, just like having a word for something can make it easier to understand, math can make all the patterns in our universe clearer.
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It depends on what you interpret "mathematics" as. If you mean the language, concepts and symbols we use to model the world around us, then it is invented. If you mean the inherent nature of numbers and forms in the world, then it is discovered. An alien civilization would most likely have a different system of mathematics that would look foreign to us, but ultimately the underlying concepts and inherent nature of their system would be the same.
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This is why I like science. It never hesitate to question even itself.
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Maths is fun when you know what you're doing.
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To this day I still can’t wrap my head around how geniuses used mathematics to learn things about science and the universe.
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I asked my math teacher this very question when I started taking calculus for an engineering degree because I was so blown away by the way the natural world around us could be described mathematically. I guess it is still an open question, but I enjoyed your brief video explanation anyway.
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maths is the logic of the universe translated into a form that humans can understand.
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My basic two cents: Mathematical principles are discovered but we invent ways to understand them.
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This is a great overview of both sides. I find this subject fascinating, as it is a window into a facet of reality that seems to be beyond our perception.
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I just got high and discovered a random math formula and tripping out about the whole experience is what brought me here. The world is all making sense now, and to think I was horrible at math in school. I’m a filmmaker. Everything material is related and math is a language used to explore how they relate.
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I love how everybody suddenly becomes philosopers after watching a 5 minute youtube video
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its invented to keep me from finishing college within 4 yrs if ever.
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My maths professor always used to say: "Math is a language, you have to speak it to get proficient". The more i learned the more I agreed. I think math is a man made thing to accurately describe what we can observe, measure or predict in the universe.
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"Mathematics is the language by which God has written the Universe" ~ Galileo Galilei
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Math is like a language used to describe things that already exist. Math wouldn't even have been invented if it weren't describing something already there that works.
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Me: reads title... Me: ok, now I will know if it's invented or discovered. Video: also asked if it's invented or discovered. Me:what?
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Mathematics is the back bone of every Scientific phenomenon. We treat it as a different branch of Science but logically, we can also treat Science as a branch of mathematics. Science contains the words that describe the mathematics we discover in almost anything and everything. Thus, science is the dictionary of mathematics and mathematics is the numerical description of science.
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I’m just an old country boy from Alabama, and I love this. I wake up at night, thinking about such questions as this video expounds upon. Now I don’t feel so odd.
