How is it that math explains the physical world?

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The Einstein black hole equation got me thinking. In a universe where so many things seem random, unexplained, and misunderstood, how can numbers on a paper explain and predict how the universe works?

It blows my mind that this concept (math) is so young relative to the universe and can be used to explain how and why things happen. Where’s the connection?

In: Mathematics

15 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Smarter minds than us are still arguing about that (and likely will be for the forseeable future). It’s not obvious why it should be the case, and that’s led more than one respected physicist to entertain the notion that, at heart, the universe IS mathematics, simply because it seems mind-blowing just how well mathematics describes it. There’s even a “Theory Of Everything” candidate along those lines ([Tegmark’s Mathermatical Universe Hypothesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_universe_hypothesis)).

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