Math explains so much of the universe to us that I can't help but think it's an integral part of the universe, a part we merely discover. However, our math would be different if we used a different number basis, for example, so I think we discover the underlying math and interpret it in a way that makes sense to us.
Many people think that mathematics is a human invention. To this way of thinking, mathematics is like a language: it may describe real things in the world, but it doesn't 'exist' outside the minds of the people who use it.
But the Pythagorean school of thought in ancient Greece held a different view. Its proponents believed reality is fundamentally mathematical.
More than 2,000 years later, philosophers and physicists are starting to take this idea seriously.
As I argue in a new paper, mathematics is an essential component of nature that gives structure to the physical world. link
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This question is central to the plot of Neal Stephenson’s marvelous 2008 novel Anathem, which I’m rereading for the third or fourth time, and which I can’t recommend highly enough. Very minor spoiler alert - Stephenson is a mathematical Platonist at heart.
I am, too--kinda sorta.
One recurring theme in science fiction is that math is a universal language and that all sentient species will have an understanding of mathematical constants that can be used to open communications between alien species.
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