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> is math invented or discovered? Yes and yes. Or to put it another way, why does it have to be an "or" question? To me some things in math are discovered, li
by magicalhippo 2y ago
> is math invented or discovered?
Yes and yes. Or to put it another way, why does it have to be an "or" question?
To me some things in math are discovered, like prime numbers, pi, Euler's number.
Other things are more like an invention, like the Runge-Kutta methods[1] or the Finite Element Method[2].
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runge%E2%80%93Kutta_methods https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runge%E2%80%93Kutta_methods
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite_element_method https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite_element_method
- tim333 2y agoTrue. There are a lot of articles like this that waffle on for ages when it seems kind of obvious that both are true. I even bought Hersh's book that waffles on for ~400 pages trying to argue for invented by studiously avoiding the obvious truth that pi would have the same value in alien civilisations and so isn't just a human invention. Instead he tries to politicize it amazingly enough. Apparently invented is lefty, discovered is right wing and right wing bad so it's not discovered. Ridiculous argument really.