CONSIDER THIS: Why Does Mathematics Work?
Thinkers like Galileo have long seen the relationship of mathematics to the physical world.
If the question posed by the headline above seems odd, it actually reflects the reality that numbers, sets, equations and formulas are non-material but nobody questions whether they exist.
Math is analogous to thinking – non-material but you surely know it’s real because you experience it constantly.
Here’s where it gets really interesting: Scientists, philosophers and mathematicians have known for eons that there is an uncanny correlation between mathematical reality and physical reality, so much so we might almost say one mirrors the other.
Or, as Galileo put it, “the book of nature is written in the book of mathematics.” Ah, but then comes the question of who did the writing? For that matter, what is the ultimate source of mathematics? If there were no mathematics, would the universe dissolve or explode into chaos?
Why does 2+2=4 everywhere and every time you take two somethings and put them with two other somethings. In the following 5:03 drcraigvideo from reasonablefaith.org, the astonishing applicability of mathematics to the physical world is explored:
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I think this misses an important point, one that I’ll bet a lot of philosophers have made in the past: mathematics works perfectly to describe the world because HUMANS created mathematics by looking at the world around them. Math is just a language used to explain things. You flip a coin a lot and you come up with some cool math to describe probability. You observe, then you describe. Sure, sometimes math predicts, that’s the fun part, but it’s because the math is on the right tract and the mathematician can take it further and further and get ahead of the observations.
It’s not a miracle, it’s a testament to how well some humans think. If you ponder it closely, you can make the same argument for poetry: the poet observes and, using the faculty of thought, comes up with wonderful words to describe. Sometimes, the poet even gets out ahead and describes things no one has felt before.
Isn’t it great?!
So why is there something to be described by mathematics rather than nothing (i.e. not even Zero)
I agree a point is being missed here; just not in the article proper. 🤦🤔☝️
How can “human created mathematics” from the past describe unknown phenomena so well? What we know keeps advancing, but the mathematics of Newton and Einstein continue to describe it pretty well. Why isn’t Mathematics changing more quickly.
Consider the following example from Chemistry, the Hydrogen atom. It has only one proton and one electron. If you add one neutron to an ordinary Hydrogen, you get an isotope of Hydrogen called Deuterium. It is still Hydrogen, but it has some subtly different properties from ordinary hydrogen. If you add a second neutron to Hydrogen, you obtain another isotope, Tritium. Tritium is still Hydrogen, but it is radioactive and luminescent. It has been used in watches to make the hands visible in the dark. Add one neutron to Hydrogen and the isotope is stable (not radioactive). Add two neutrons to Hydrogen and the isotope is radioactive.
Now consider that water consists of precisely two Hydrogen Atoms and one Oxygen Atom, not approximately two, but precisely two.
Consider if you add a second proton to a Hydrogen atom, you now have a completely different element, Helium.
So, the mathematical statement ” 1 + 1 = 2 ” is embedded in the very atoms and molecules that make up the physical universe.
Now if mathematical statements are merely a creation of humanity, then they would not be true, if there are no humans around to create them. But science tells us that the universe existed for more than 12 billion years before the first man walked the earth. Thus ” 1 + 1 = 2 ” must be true independently of the existence of man. And if ” 1 + 1 = 2 ” is true, then so is the rest of math. Therefore mathematics is true both before humans existed, while humans exist, and after humans cease to exist (if they ever cease to exist).
This understanding is the basis for an ancient proof of the existence of God (the argument from the existence of abstract entities). Mathematical truths are ideas in the mind. Mathematical truths are necessary (not contingent). Therefore, Mathematical truths are ideas in the mind of a necessary being. That necessary being is God.
The previous paragraph is not philosophically rigorous. It is just an outline of the proof.
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