The Hidden Secrets of Math: Invented or Discovered? (Part 2)

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 27 September 2024

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Where does math come from? Mathematicians are still debating whether math is an inherent part of nature or an invention of the human mind. Mathematics communicator and drag queen Kyne will guide you through the question of what math really is in this three-part Friday miniseries. Recommended reading: – Gift Wrapping Five Oranges Has Outwitted the Best Minds in Mathematics for Generations – The SAT Problem That Everybody Got Wrong E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman and Kyne Santos. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg with fact-checking by Shayna Posses, Emily Makowski and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Here's the truth about AI.
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0:21.9	use right now. That's why the world works with ServiceNow. Visit ServiceNow.com
0:27.8	slash UK slash AI for people. Ever wondered what math actually is? No? Well, mathematicians
0:36.5	sure have. In fact, it's a question they're still debating
0:39.6	today. You'd think that's something they'd have a handle on, but they really don't. Is math an
0:45.8	aspect of nature that we're discovering, or is it an invention of the human mind? For science
0:51.0	quickly, I'm Rachel Feltman. And I'm Kyn Santos, your favorite math teaching drag queen.
0:56.3	Last week, Kine came on the show to teach us just how beautiful math could be.
1:00.7	This week, we're getting to know who math is on the inside.
1:07.1	We've talked about equations and numbers and theorems, but what really are those things?
1:13.3	Are mathematicians like scientists going out into the world to take measurements and form hypotheses,
1:18.9	or are they more like philosophers who sit in an armchair and think?
1:23.1	Apparently no one knows?
1:25.2	Well, there are definitely a couple different camps in this debate.
1:29.3	One school of thought is called intuitionism, which is the idea that math is all in our heads,
1:34.3	and any mathematical truth is only true insofar as we believe that it's true.
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