How do we know math isn’t wrong? Like it works but could it only work due to our perception?
In: Mathematics
Math is a language that is used to organize a series of definitions and logical statements. For example. If I had three cows, I could directly represent that I had these cows by drawing three lines: III. This is how people in many ancient civilizations would have done it. Eventually someone smart came along and said “Representing things with lines is easy, but it doesn’t work well with large numbers. Instead of using lines, lets use the symbol ‘3’ for your three cows. Then, if you have so many cows you need to count on your fingers 3 times, write it as ’30’.” The symbol ’30’ doesn’t have any direct connection to a bunch of cows, but the discovery that numbers are more flexible when written in this way (Hindu-Arabic numerals) helped people better express themselves.
The idea that 3 is equivalent to III is just a convention we all agree on because it helps us to communicate or organize our own thoughts better. It holds no fundamental truth, and the same is true of all math. We didn’t discover arithmetic/calculus/statistics/etc. We invented them. They are tools, and tools can be judged directly by how well they work. Many people who accomplished remarkable feats in the real world did so with math, so we know the mathematicians who invented that math did a good job.
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