Yes, I think this is a philosophical question. The way that I've always come to terms with this question is that humans are a natural outcome of pattern in the

Yes, I think this is a philosophical question. The way that I've always come to terms with this question is that humans are a natural outcome of pattern in the universe. We are, after all, just atoms observing other atoms. Fortunately, we're rather complex patterns, so the emergent patterns that form from us are also complex. Math is just a language for describing pattern. The further you go into math, the more patterns on patterns you discover (that's the point of abstraction). To answer your question, I think it's some amount of both. There are basic patterns in the universe that allow for emergent patterns/behavior. So the mathematical equations that we create are just eddies in abstract, emergent pattern.