ROSE MARIE M.

MARIO

BS-ACCOUNTANCY I-D

GREAT MATH MYSTERY

A Reflection Paper

“Is math a human invention or the discovery of the language of the universe?”, this question
have been manifested by The Great Math Mystery Episode of the PBS popular science series
NOVA. But it clearly been conveyed by the film that the answer is that, math is a human invention.
There is an attempt by the mainstream science establishment to promote the idea that mathematics
is what the universe consists of. That is mathematics is the new version of GOD. So they want us
to worship mathematics and the elite people who can manipulate and control how we interpret
nature through their control over the mathematical machinery by which establishment science tells
us what is true about the world that we live in.

The so called scientific method can demonstrate that mathematical laws discovered through
the operation of the method upon nature actually produce the deep underlying mathematical laws
that govern nature, we as humans ought not to invest our belief in mathematical systems with any
Godlike powers or possessing ultimate secrets of the nature of the universe.

It is better to view mathematics as merely a useful human invention and all of theoretical
physics as just a useful tool that aids our interpretation of reality and nothing more.

Early on we are told that Fibonacci numbers show up in flower petal counts. The screen
displays flowers which have petals counted in accordance with the Fibonacci sequence. That
sequence goes 1,1, 2,3,5,8,13,21,34, 55… However, when I go outside my house I discover a lot
of flowers with petal count of four and four is not a Fibonacci number. That is a disturbing fact.
Next an expert tells us that “Statistically the Fibonacci numbers show up a lot”. So now the
statement is modified to take account that not all flowers follow the mathematical law of the
Fibonacci numbers. In fact what appears to be a mathematical law governing nature turns out to
be only a statistical likelihood which is not overwhelmingly convincing as a rule for governing
nature, because mathematics is the language of the universe.

One of the deceptive arguments presented in the film, is the claim that mathematics is
responsible for the great technological achievements of our age. The question then must be asked,
how do we really know that the mathematical laws that we humans invent are actually real true
laws of the universe? How do we know that physical laws are not just an illusion and not real
truth?

The answer to this question, is that we don’t actually know the real and true laws of the
universe completely. What we know is only how to use certain mathematical laws in what are
called idealizations to solve certain types of problems with constrained boundaries through
idealization. The film gives us an example of how idealizations work and how they can be used to
produce deceptions regarding conclusions of fact.