The early years of mathįor the early years of math, cultures existed largely siloed into their own communities and geographical areas. demonstrating Egyptian's knowledge of geometric principles. We have evidence dating to the fifth Millenium B.C. Geometry was one of the first subsets of mathematics that was likely formed as well. So there would've needed to have been some method of mathematical distribution.Īs for actual evidence of these first practices, we have artifacts dating back 20,000 years in Africa that present some of the first conceptual theories of time. In a hunter-gatherer culture, you early humans also would've had to have dealt with the division of food evenly throughout the community. From deciding which berry to eat or which basic task accomplished the most work in the shortest amount of time. The first peoples on earth would've had to deal with principles of number, magnitude, and form on a daily basis. That means that we have no proof of the origins of the first use of mathematics, but we can infer. The origins of mathematics date back to early pre-historic times that were, well, prehistory. So, who invented mathematics? The Invention of Math Thanks for sharing your answer I found it very informative.When you stop and think about it though, who was the first person to use math? After all, we know famous inventors of specific equations, but what about for math as a concept? This doesn't seem like too far off of a proposition either given that modern realms of science have founders, like Max Planck, the father of quantum mechanics or Isaac Newton and calculus. Is this kind of debate one that philosophers would engage even without some kind of specialization/education in mathematics? Or would this sort of debate only occur between logicians/philosophers/people well-versed in both philosophy and mathematics? Geez, I wish we had done a section on this in the philosophy elective I took instead of all the other stuff! This makes sense to me logically, but leaves a lot of questions unanswered that platonism seems to have some great points to make about. They will always be interpretations or inferences. Our mathematical models are incredibly good and accurate, but can never truly represent the original. Box on the first day of class, essentially saying that "all models are wrong, but some are useful," which I find quite applicable to a nominalist view. This is fascinating I never knew that there was such a divide on this topic! Reading some essays on nominalism, conceptualism, etc. If you want to read more about this, here are some links: 39.3% identify with platonism 37.7% with nominalism (23.0% other) ( ) A recent survey of almost two-thousand philosophers shows this. To actually attempt to answer your question, philosophers are almost totally divided on this. This view makes the claim that mathematical objects have no inherent reality to them, but that they were created ( invented) by humankind to better understand our world. The concept of calculus exists inherent to our universe, and humans discovered them.Ģ.) nominalism - this would represent the other option in your question. Basically, a mathematical platonist would say that calculus was discovered. When it comes to the nature of mathematics, there are two primary views:ġ.) platonism - this is essentially the idea that mathematical objects are "real" - that they exist abstractly and independent of human existence. As others have said, this question is very philosophical in nature, but I'll add to that a bit, making it as simple as I can.
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