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Question: Why does mathematics work!?
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
because we do believe in it///Www@QuestionHome@Com

That is like asking why a rock is a rock!?, Who made it such, that a rock is a rock!? or Who set the law that a rock has a certain hardness!?
Mathematics explore objective truths, truths that are independent of the mind!. You do not need to think that 2+2=4 in order for it to be true, that is something which is true in itself!. You do not need to think that a rock is a rock, or that it has a certain amount of hardness or a certain weight, those are simply properties of the rock in themselves independent of your consciousness!. The fact is that there are no laws, there is no law of gravity!. Gravity is the effect made by the distortion of space when matter occupies it, it is a property!. We call it the law of gravity to grasp this property and find some use for it!. For example by understanding it, we can send satellites into space!. Mathematics is the study of the world and its properties!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

mathematics, is all about proportions!. no single person set all of its laws, and technically they are not really laws that people set!. they are laws that are discovered!. once math got its basic language developed, you can use it to figure out other things!. once you've made a proof using that language that one thing is the equivalent as another, you can substitue the one for the other whenever you want!. for example, somebody at some point had to prove that -5 * -5 = 25, and not -25 for example!. once they prove it, you can just say one minus times another gives a positive!.

in the beginning math was very much geometry!. people developed equivalencies, things like pythagoras' theorem!. which is also a good example of proportion!. but really all of it is proportion, like 25 is proportionally 5 times large than 5, and whatnot!. you can even get much more complex for equations that explain physical events, such as relating the trajectory of a projectile, the distance, in proportion to the time it takes to land, in proportion to the initial speed in proportion to the launch angle and etcetera!.

lots of it has evolved since the beginning many people adding different things to it!. isaac newton invented calculus which was a huge leap forward!. basically the ability to add infinite sums simply, in order to calculate things like the volume and are of complex shapes!. stuff like calculating the distance covered by a car that is constantly accelerating!. before that it was simple to calculate the distance covered by a car at constant speed (area of a rectangle) or even constant acceleration (area of a triangle), but not accelerating acceleration (area of basically a triangle but with one curved side)!.

it works because it must!. it's not really an invention!. the language is invented, like instead of counting in groups of 10 we could just as easily have a number system like 0,1,2,3,10,11,12,13,20 etc!.!.!. the invented part doesn't matter!. the language is used to uncover realities of the natural world!. whatever you call 2 and whatever you call 4, 2 is double the size of 4!.

naming the tree tree did not invent tree, it just named something that exists!. finding a tree was easy!. naming an atom atom did not invent the atom, it named the thing that exists, though truly what it is is being defined as we learn more about it!. we needed tools to find atom!. math is like that some stuff is easy to find, like 5!. some stuff is hard to find like pi!. you need to use the tools you've made so far to discover it!. the length of half of the circumference of a circle was always 3!.15!.!.!. times the length of its radius whether we knew it or not!. a circle must be this way!.

so in short it works because it has to work, the universe is that way and must be that way!. nobody created its laws, they were discovered, and many individuals over many generations discovered them!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I suspect my answer is not what you are looking for but here it is anyway!.

Causation--the reality domain of the physical senses, the scientific realms of logical uniformity, the differentiation of the factual and the nonfactual, reflective conclusions based on cosmic response!. This is the mathematical form of the cosmic discrimination!.

Matter-energy is recognized by the mathematical logic of the senses; mind-reason intuitively knows its moral duty; spirit-faith (worship) is the religion of the reality of spiritual experience!. These three basic factors in reflective thinking may be unified and co-ordinated in personality development, or they may become disproportionate and virtually unrelated in their respective functions!. But when they become unified, they produce a strong character consisting in the correlation of a factual science, a moral philosophy, and a genuine religious experience!. And it is these three cosmic intuitions that give objective validity, reality, to man's experience in and with things, meanings, and values!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

ha, points to all the courageous mathletes who have come before me in reply!.

Math functions entirely upon the fact the man developed language!. Without the word, there is no retention, no memory catalog in your brain, so no matter that it made sense, there would be no word for a number, so not only would you be unable to pass on this magnanimous discovery, you also, in turn, would be unable to remember your earlier reason for excitement!.

slightly harris burgeronWww@QuestionHome@Com

We use mathematics to describe how things work!. Mathematics itself is nothing more than a series of numbers and signs and operations!. Its just how we defined it to be!.Www@QuestionHome@Com


My best short answer is that reality is capable of being broken up into (or at least considered as) discrete units!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

First off!.!.!.you have to find out that the brain operates digitallyWww@QuestionHome@Com