Roger Penrose - Is Mathematics Invented or Discovered?

  • Published 11 months ago
  • 5

Mathematics describes the real world of atoms and acorns, stars and stairs, with remarkable precision.
So is mathematics invented by humans just like chisels and hammers and pieces of music? Or is mathematics discovered—always out there, somewhere, like mysterious islands waiting to be found?
Whatever mathematics is will help define reality itself.
Most of mathematical activity consists of discovering and proving (by pure reasoning) properties of abstract objects. These objects are either abstractions from nature (such as natural numbers or lines), or (in modern mathematics) abstract entities of which certain properties, called axioms, are stipulated.
There are 4 types of math, algebra, geometry, calculus, and statistics and probability. Those are the four main branches.

From Around the Web

Related Videos

Science
moon mission
youtube icon
15:03

In July 1969, the American spaceflight Apollo 11 made history by being the first spaceflight that landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Al...

  • 485
  • 3 months ago
  • Not Rated
Science
journey cosmos
youtube icon
01:08:56

The cosmos is another name for the Universe. Using the former implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity. This documentary takes a look at questions lik...

  • 322
  • 3 months ago
  • Not Rated
Science
secrets of the universe
youtube icon
03:17:49

The cosmos is another name we use for the Universe. Using that particular word implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity.The cosmos and our understandi...

  • 908
  • 10 months ago
  • Not Rated
Science
general relativity
youtube icon
14:04

When Albert Einstein first published the Special Theory of relativity in 1905, he was ridiculed. People thought it was just too weird and radical to be real. Einstein wasn’t sati...

  • 1,107
  • 11 months ago
  • Not Rated
Avatar

4,897 Videos / 18,575,889 Views
Tags

Related Articles
The MOSE project in Venice will be fully operational in 2023. At the time, the barriers will be raised when the water le...
  • 1,408
  • 1 year ago
Apart from the obligatory extraterrestrial life hunting, the telescope will also become handy in a number of different w...
  • 933
  • 1 year ago
The alkali metals are the family of elements that contain the most reactive elements. These metals include lithium, sodi...
  • 2,513
  • 1 year ago
The goal of the project (ITER, short for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) is to create a plasma of 500 ...
  • 2,226
  • 2 years ago