The Existence of Mathematics

Mathematics is possible, therefore must exist.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Mathematics
• logic
• god
• proof

[PeelTower]

I'm not really concerned with the philosophy of mathematics. It irritates me actually. Maths is a tool for me and the purists aren't philosophers either...they are game players. They are just playing around. I think those who get into the philosophy of the whole thing are wasting their time and risking their mental health.

[j0hnwi11iams]

I raise it only in counterpoint to theists who insist that "God" is the only way to get something from nothing. While math HAS no physical manifestation, there is nothing that prevents it from BEING a physical manifestation. Therefore, no need for "God", or any other deferral agent.

[winstono75]

Funny, I was just listening to that Abba song five minutes ago and here it comes again.

[j0hnwi11iams]

Mathematics by itself is abstract and without physical form. What it can be used for is to represent analogy with physical systems, but at some level of abstraction. My claim is that mathematics is not created so much as it is discovered. The terms and symbols we use to represent mathematics are created, but they represent something with deeper laws.

[j0hnwi11iams]

The underlying mathematics simply are. In our reasoning about math we nearly always abstract so we can neglect insignificant factors. Certainly statistics with large numbers is something that cancels itself out on a human scale.

[j0hnwi11iams]

Godel's theorem does prove that the symbolic interpretation of math is fraught with problems. The way we reason and communicate about math is not necessarily the math itself.

[PeelTower]

Did Newton know that "all physical laws are based on probability & statistics"? I don't think he needed to use probability or statistics to work out his universal gravitational constant nor his inverse square law....did he?

[PeelTower]

I understand what you mean but you make mathematics sound as if it can only be done one way. After all, isn't mathematics just a way of modelling reality? It isn't the stuff of the universe itself. There is no need for probability to model gravity is there? All physical laws may be 'reduced' to probability and statistics ....perhaps.

[j0hnwi11iams]

Thanks for the post. I have read Godel's theorem. It's been a while, but the jist of the application of the theorem to formal proofs (especially using computer languages) is to retain strong typing to prevent paradox in higher order logic. The quote in the theorem itself is a unique type.