Does Mathematics Exist?

A Presentation on the Place and

Significance of Mathematics in the
Universe.
By Guthrie Prentice

Why this question?

Ongoing debate regarding the existence and

function of mathematics in the physical world.
The Platonists and physicists - the universe is
inherently mathematical.
Our external physical reality is a
mathematical structure, (Tegmark, 2008).
Psychologists and neuro-scientists - math is
something we impose onto physical
phenomena.

Evidence for External Mathematics

Wigner refers to the unreasonable

effectiveness of mathematics in the natural
sciences (Wigner, 1960).

In the case of tapered pinecones

or pineapples, we see a double set
of spirals one going in a
clockwise direction and one in the
opposite direction. When these
spirals are counted, the two sets
are found to be adjacent Fibonacci
numbers (Parveen, 2016).

Mathematics in Science

Newton's formulas predicted the existence of

Neptune due to perturbations in Uranus's Orbit
(Kollerstrom, 2001).

Quantum mechanics

Mathematical Biology

There are also examples of mathematics

making predictions about life and social
phenomena.

Mathematics Describes
Relationships?

The Case for Internal Mathematics

Rafael E. Nunez and others argue math evolved as

part of life
the only math that exists is that which the brain can
comprehend.
Science alone can neither prove nor disprove the
existence of a platonic mathematics, just as it cannot
prove or disprove the existence of a God (Lakoff,
Nunez, 2000, p. 2).
All the fitting between mathematics and the
regularities of the physical world is done within the
minds of the physicists who comprehend both. The
mathematics is in the mind of the mathematically
trained observer, not in the regularities of the world
(Ibid, p. 344).

Evidence for the Internal Case

Lakoff and Nunez wrote the book Where

Mathematics Comes From which described
symbolic logic and container schema
Excluded Middle: For containers, every object is
either in a container, or out of it. For categories,
same thing.
Modus Ponens: If an object X is in a container A, and
container A is in container B, then X is is in B, same
for categories.
Hypothetical Syllogism: If Container A is in B and B is
in C, then A is in C.
Modus Tollens: If there are two containers A and B
and an object Y, if A is in B and Y is outside B, then Y
is outside A. (Ibid, p. 44)

Rooted in the Environment

Mental rotation is a natural cognitive operation...A

180 degree rotation around zero maps the positive
numbers to the corresponding negative numbers,
and vice versa. This cognitive operation provides
grounding for a metaphor for multiplication by
negative numbers: Rotation by 180 Is Multiplication
by -1 (Ibid, p.90).
With regard to arithmetic, the reason it fits into the
world is as follows: The metaphoric blends of the
source and target domains...associate the arithmetic
of the natural numbers with a huge range of
experiences in the world...This is the basis of the link
between arithmetic and the world as we experience
it (Ibid, p. 96).

The Development of Symbolic Logic

Claim that Boole simply mapped arithmetic onto the

branch of mathematics pertaining to classes.(Ibid, p. 125).
Continued from classes to propositions - propositional
logic was formed (Ibid, pp. 131-133).
Lakoff and Nunez had the following to say about Symbolic
logic being the basis of reason, or at the very least as the
basis of mathematics: Real reasoning includes
phenomena like graded categories...Symbolic logic, no
mater how sophisticated in its present form, is nowhere
near characterizing real, every day human
reason...Moreover, no matter how sophisticated formal
logics get, they remain mathematical tools
conceptualized, created and understood by human
beings... (Ibid, p. 139).

he Creation of Mathematical Induction

Mathematical Induction is treated by Lakoff and Nunez as

just a special case of the Basic Metaphor of Infinity,
quoted as follows:
A beginning state-->Stage (1) resulting from the initial
stage of the process-->The process: From (n-1), produce
the next state (n)-->The intermediate result follows as a
relation between n and n-1-->The final result is an actual
infinity--> The final result is unique.
Statement about X, S(x)-->Prove the base case for S(1)->Given the truth of S(n-1) establish the truth for S(n) (or
given the truth of S(k), prove for S(k+1))-->S(n) is true for
all members of the set. (Ibid, p. 176).

Basic Metaphor of Infinity

Claimed by Lakoff and Nunez as a single

cognitive process which is the basis for all
conceptions of infinity. Also claimed to be the
basis for conceptions of limits and Epsilondelta proofs for what a derivative is (Ibid, 198199).

Problems with the Cognitive only

Model

Fails to address the predictive power of the

scientific method.
It does not explain why the brain evolved math
in the first place

Falsification of the Cognitive Only

Model

To prove that mathematics is only in the brain

would require proving that mathematics isn't in
the outside world. Falsifying that idea isn't
happening any time soon for reasons
mentioned earlier in the presentation.

Where do we go from here?

OH HELLO THERE!

What Do We Do in the Meantime?

References

Fry, Hannah. (2014, April). The Mathematics

of Love. [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.ted.com/talks/hannah_fry_the_ma
thematics_of_love?language=en#t-196974
Lakoff, George. Nunez, Rafael E. (2000).
Where Mathematics Comes From: How the
Embodied Mind Brings Mathematics Into
Being. New York, NY: Basic Books.

References (Continued)

Kollerstrom, N. (2001). A Neptune Discovery

Chronology. The British Case for Coprediction. University College London.
https://web.archive.org/web/20051119031753/h
ttp://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/nk/neptune/chron.htm
Retrieved July 4, 2016.
Parveen, N. (2016, April 20). Fibonacci in
Nature. Retrieved from
http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/emat6680/parveen/f
ib_nature.htm

References (Continued)

Robeva, R. Davies, R. Hodge, T. Enyedi, A.

(2010). Mathematical Biology Modules Based
on Modern Molecular Biology and Modern
Discrete Mathematics. CBE Life Sci Educ,
9(3), 227-240. doi: 10.1187/cbe.10-03-0019
Tegmark, M. (2008). The Mathematical
Universe. Found. Phys., 38, 101-150. doi:
10.1007/s10701-007-9186-9