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Philosophical question about definitions of "discovered" vs. "invented" | 1347 comments | Create New Account

Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.

Philosophical question about definitions of "discovered" vs. "invented"

Authored by: jonathon on Monday, June 11 2012 @ 02:25 PM EDT

>I would say that axioms are invented and the rest of math is discovered.

+1

Change the axioms, and the math changes.
Something that is true for every field of endevour I've encountered.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Philosophical question about definitions of "discovered" vs. "invented"

Authored by: softbear on Thursday, June 14 2012 @ 12:05 AM EDT

Well, no.

Math with a direct application in real world has no human
invention involved, it is pure discovery. The "axioms"
involved are likewise discovered. (The math of physics, math
that describes chemical properties and reactions, etc.)
That those same equations are sometimes found to apply to
other things is not a new thing, just another discovery.

I've yet to see an algorithm that wasn't mathematical, and
I've yet to see a program that isn't an algorithm written in
another language. Much like the claims in bad software
patents ...

---
IANAL, etc.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

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