Last week we had a little debate on whether math was created or discovered and I wanted to share a couple of my thoughts on this topic.

I am in favor of the idea that math is discovered rather than invented. I have a couple instances that I believe support this side of the argument. The example that most stands out to me is the existence of black holes. Until recently, I do not believe we had photographic evidence of black holes and yet through math we were able to know what they were and where they existed. We have been able to know that black holes exist and some of their properties through math. Basically, through our knowledge of math we were able to discover a new type of entity in space.

Another argument is that math all fits together so nicely. Math has been discovered over of thousands of years. There have not been any contradictions to math yet which seems unlikely. An example of this is the invention of calculus. Most people attribute calc with Newton, but it was actually invented by two different people at the same time. The other person, Leibniz, invented calc at the same time as Newton. The fact that these two came up with the same ideas at the same time and had no real contact with each other is insane. If math were invented as opposed to discovered I see no way they could have fabricated the same exact methods and formulae that make up calc.

Math is able to explain natural occurrences as well. This shows that math is able to describe the world around us. This makes it feel real and inherent as opposed to made up.

Another point is that math is closely related to the sciences. I believe (and could be wrong) that people accept science as being discovered instead of invented. Math is tied into the truths of sciences especially chem and physics.

To sum up, math seems too universally used and connected to too many truths and is tied together so well with itself to be made up and therefore for the examples I have listed above I believe that math is discovered.

Let me know what you think. I would love to hear support or counter arguments to this post.