The old "what is math" question... I've been thinking about it...

[SK1]

I've been thinking about what math is and I've come to the conclusion
(provisionally) that math is the study of light, energy and its
patterns and transformations since light is one of the primary things
that can transmit information (that we take in anyway).

Math could be said to study itself... but I think mathematics
is a subset of human language, then combine that with vision
and our ability to hear.

When we began to count we didn't start with "math" we started
with concepts like
"Box"

So we'd say ObjectBOX(1) when we say "one box"

one didn't preceed the box, the concept of one is basically us drawing
an 'imaginary' border around a conglomerate geometric shape and
making it a transcendental (i.e. one box, which belongs to the set
of things that look like boxes, or all "box like" things).

Just thought I'd get it out here, what do you guys think?

[The TimeLord]

Post by SK1
I've been thinking about what math is and I've come to the conclusion
(provisionally) that math is the study of light, energy and its
patterns and transformations since light is one of the primary things
that can transmit information (that we take in anyway).

Actually that is the study of physics. Mathematics is the study of
rules/laws that are inherently true in any universe.

[...]

Post by SK1
Just thought I'd get it out here, what do you guys think?

I think you need to take more math and science.

[none]

Post by SK1
I've been thinking about what math is and I've come to the conclusion
(provisionally) that math is the study of light, energy and its
patterns and transformations since light is one of the primary things
that can transmit information (that we take in anyway).
Math could be said to study itself... but I think mathematics
is a subset of human language, then combine that with vision
and our ability to hear.
When we began to count we didn't start with "math" we started
with concepts like
"Box"
So we'd say ObjectBOX(1) when we say "one box"
one didn't preceed the box, the concept of one is basically us drawing
an 'imaginary' border around a conglomerate geometric shape and
making it a transcendental (i.e. one box, which belongs to the set
of things that look like boxes, or all "box like" things).
Just thought I'd get it out here, what do you guys think?

Kenny enlightened me to this concept - thus it is a Kennyism :
Math is the sum of all descriptions of how the mind works.
The mind is the major interface to the universe.
We use it in our encounters to describe and predict the states of the
universe - bigger,better, faster, more, increasing, decreasing, good,
bad, true, false, ... .

Math is a set of constructs describing and or directing the mind's
perspective of the universe(in part or whole).

Above all -
Math is what mathematicians do. - I'll drink to that til I'm PI*I squared.

~S~

[k***@wi.rr.com]

Suicideking77

Math from the viewpoint of philosophy is the application of Logic to certain
collections of objects called sets. I know your original question was
addressing our cognitive experience of math. By that I mean, you were asking
something like, when did we first develop notions of objects with order and
names like 1, 2, 3 ...... But math formally defined is not at all just a
study of numbers. Again you seem to have confused ideas in physics with
mathematics.

Incidentally, the idea of tree of philosophy see Logic at the top with math
just below and guess what? Physics is the application of math to our
external physical reality. Then we have chemical being a limitation of
physics and it keeps going like that.

A larger question in the vein that you bring up is this: Is mathematical
reasoning ideal or discovered. What I mean is what the Plato and the
Pythagoreans conceived. For instance for them a circle is an ideal object
and has not worldly realization. We didn't create the idea that the circle
is a point with every other point in the plane equidistant from it. IT has
always been that way, we just discover a truth of form. And it can't really
exists, since any real world circle has a defect, though perhaps
imperceptible. According to this school math, and it is still very popular
today, no conceptual math object really exists in the physical world. No
proof of math in set theory, number theory, topology or what have you can be
said to really exists. Of course the concepts and methods can be APPLIED to
reality but never identified with such. As weird as this might sound, a many
mathematicians subscribe to the idea. There is an camp called Intuitionist
that says something quite the opposite, but I am already going on too long.

later
Robleh