Equations like E=mc^2 and stuff like how the force og gravity becomes 1/4 as strong when the distance between the objects dobles. Similarly with braking distance with cars, double the speed and the braking distance quadruples. These all seem to fit so well.
Have we made math to fit so nicely with physics? Am I thinking of all this wrong? Since I feel it like it would be to big of a coincidense that we can so easily use equations to predic physics. What is actually the reason for this?
In: Mathematics
Math is more than the study of numbers. It’s the study of patterns. We can do all of that math without looking at the universe or doing science. You make some marks on a piece of paper, then set up some rules for how to move those marks around, then move them around and see what interesting patterns happen. That’s math.
So when we look at nature, we also see patterns. We can go back to our math games and say that pattern of paper scribbles looks really similar to this pattern of how a block slides down a ramp, or a planet orbits a star. If you’re clever about it, you can then start to come up with mathematical “games” that fit patterns within science from the get-go.
The universe has patterns. Math is the study of patterns.
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