I can’t seem to wrap my head around the fact that math is invented? Maybe he came up with the symbols of integration and derivation, but these are phenomena, no? We’re just representing it in a “language” that makes sense. I’ve also heard people say that we may need “new math” to discover/explain new phenomena. What does that mean?
Edit: Thank you for all the responses. Making so much more sense now!
In: Mathematics
If you tell someone directions to go to the store, are you actually going to the store? No, you’re just explaining how to get to the store.
Math is the same. Math is how we explain how the universe works. It is not how the universe works, just an explanation. When someone invents something in math, they are inventing a new way of explaining how the universe works.
Now imagine you’re used to giving directions in lefts and rights. In fact, you’re very good at it, you even know all the angles down to the degree. This always worked when someone needed to get to the store. But suddenly you realize, helicopters exist. You discover this when a helicopter pilot comes up to you and asks you for directions to the store. The current way you tell directions no longer works. The helicopter can go straight there, but there’s a mountain range in between, so altitude is very important. What do you do? You invent a new way of giving directions that makes sense in the context of helicopters.
That’s new math, it’s a new method that works within a context where the current math does not. It shares a lot of the same principles and, at its core, a lot will be the same. But you need new methods to explain problems that current math does not solve.
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