Mathematics as a metaphor

[spingears]

It is not the mathematics that is flawed it is the misapplication of good math to bad science or some other discipline that causes problems.

[erislover]

Math is 100% accurate because there is nothing to contradict it. Personally, I think that’s like saying “English is 100% accurate”, but even if we ignore my personal opinions on math it is hard to see how you could say it was wrong.

[Mathochist]

@erislover

Math is 100% accurate because there is nothing to contradict it. Personally, I think that’s like saying “English is 100% accurate”, but even if we ignore my personal opinions on math it is hard to see how you could say it was wrong.

Contradiction goes on in English all the time. Half of all papers in lit-crit journals are one side of an issue gainsaying the other. Math is completely accurate because it’s the distillation of logical argument. All these numbers and things are just applications, which are themselves applied to the sciences.

[lee]

@WormsInSineland

Hello. I’ve got a quick question for The Straight Dope message board citizens.

I firmly subscribe to the idea that mathematical (and other forms of) expression are metaphors for what is actually happening in this so-called universe. The most famous example of this, I’m told, is light, which can be mathematically shown to travel as waves, and tested to show as such. Light can also be mathematically shown to travel as particles, and tested to show as such.

So my question is this: are there any other examples of mathematics that imply the language is more of a metaphor rather than an absolute truth?

I don’t think Mathematics is limited to being a metaphor. There are plenty of mathematical systems, many based on axioms not true in others. Some of these do not seem to be accurate metaphors for any actuality. Not all mathematics will serve as a model for physical reality. In the areas that do not model reality particularly well, It need not be that the mathematics is inaccurate, it may be that the mathematics is self consistent and another mathematical system will model reality better. Where Euclidian geometry fails to model the world we see, some non-Euclidian geometries might model it better. That is not to say that there was anything wrong in Euclid’s geometry as far as mathematics goes. As long as it is self-consistent, it is as true as any math gets.

[erislover]

@Mathochist

Contradiction goes on in English all the time.

And? I can create contradictions in math, too, just by writing them out. What’s that got to do with anything.

[ultrafilter]

@Mathochist

Math is completely accurate because it’s the distillation of logical argument.

Starting, of course, from premises that (we sure hope) are consistent.

[Jake]

@daffyduck

Worms, your question is based on a number of hidden premises about how the universe works. What you have asked are philosophical questions. There are, for example, many people who would gladly argue that absolute truth is a fiction. Or another way to look at it is, how can you possibly know “what is actually happening in this so-called universe”? Another way to look at your question is to ask if math is a discovery or an invention. There are a zillion ways to look at it.

But what’s YOUR way of looking at it? I’m with the discovery "It existed since (right after) the Big Bang, and for some reason “It” fits our thinking. Definite line between philsophy and math.

Confuses the Hell out of me!

[tim314]

There was a good thread a while back discussing whether math is a discovery or invention.