This was the subject of a PBS Nova episode, “The Great Math Mystery”, originally aired 4/15/2015 and rebroadcast last Wednesday 3/28/2018. It mentions Fibonacci spirals, gravitation, Maxwell’s equations, prediction and discovery of the Higgs boson, etc. as evidence that math is real. fMRI scans of people doing math problems, and experiments showing various animals have an ability to distinguish “number” (more things here than there). Unlikely to convince an esteemed anyone, but a nice assembly of well known anecdotes, and good eye candy. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/great-math-mystery.html <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/great-math-mystery.html> — Mike
On Apr 2, 2018, at 12:42 PM, Dan Asimov <dasimov@earthlink.net> wrote:
If this common discussion subject among mathematicians has come up in math-fun previously, it must have been a while ago:
Is mathematical truth real? I was reminded of this question when I happened to sit next to an esteemed molecular biologist who has strong opinions on the matter: He thinks math is "all in the brain" of humans who think about it. I could not convince him that math has any kind of independent existence — though I certainly believe it myself.
What do other think about this? I would say that mathematical truth is *at least* as real of a thing as physical truth.
—Dan
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