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RE: Ask a Mathematician - therapy for the fear of math or just answers to questions that bug you!
Ok, this is a very philosophical one: Are mathematical facts invented or discovered?
Btw: Upvoted, resteemed and followed. :-)
Discordia! ;-)
May I refer the question to: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/philosophy-mathematics/
Funnily, this reminds me that I was once invited as a guest on the BBC radio show In Our Time to discuss this very topic! Sadly, the show was later cancelled, only to reappear about a year later... without my presence. bah!
The real answer is that nobody knows! It feels as if mathematical systems are constructed, and hence invented, yet in the process that system may well lead to discoveries that nobody had anticipated. I don't think anybody believes in pure platonism anymore, that such structures have an existence independent of our minds. Yes, physical reality has a mathematical structure but that is verified by experiment, mathematics itself deals with all possible structures, some of which cannot even exist.
It is like the Glass Bead Game, but it has produced computers, so not totally useless! :-)
All hail to Eris! ;-)
Thank you very much for your answer and the link you provided. To be honest I actually wasn't really expecting a definitive answer. I was just interested in your personal opinion on that topic. I wonder whether this question will ever be really "solved".
Do you happen to have a link to a recording of this BBC radio show?
That show would have been some 15 years ago. You may find someone who archives In Our Time on download sites.
And thanks very much for the resteem :-)
erm... nearly 2am here... I shall rejoin you tomorrow, after my students' graduation event.