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> Four thousand years ago, the Babylonians invented multiplication Invented… or discovered?
by jw1224 5y ago
> Four thousand years ago, the Babylonians invented multiplication
Invented… or discovered?
- lal 5y agoWell, mathematics wasn't discovered, so regardless of what the right word is, it isn't "discovered".
- quickthrower2 5y agoThat is really a philosophical question.
- Asraelite 5y agoThis is the kind of thing that you can really overthink. I would just say it is whatever people call it. Most people would intuitively say "invent" rather than "discover" so that's what it is. Words are defined by their usage. If that results in a strange and unsatisfying definition then so be it.
- loxias 5y agoI disagree, mathematics is 100% discovered. It's not like we humans are inventing it ourselves.
- anamax 5y agoWolfram seems (to me) to say that he can show that math is some strange combination of invented (or rather, sensed) and discovered. https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2022/03/the-physicalization-of-metamathematics-and-its-implications-for-the-foundations-of-mathematics/ https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2022/03/the-physicalizat...
- throwaway_1928 5y ago
- galaxyLogic 5y agoThink of algorithmic theorem provers. They search the space of possible logical conclusions and in that manner find proofs. Thus they discover proofs, they discover mathematics. But really I don't know what the difference between discovering and inventing is? You discover that something works, call it an invention. What else is invention than discovery?