Mathematics, the science of faith
Ok, it has been a while since I got on here and did anything, for that I apologize. However, I have been busy considering many things for school and life in general, so that is a viable excuse in my mind.
Now, to the topic at hand. I have heard some people mention to me that mathematics in no way involves faith; I guess you could say they believed mathematics to be the antithesis of what faith is. I am basically going to clarify this point and see how it goes.
Mathematics runs off of logic. Because of this fact, we have to rely on logical means to do everything that we want to do with mathematics. So now I have a question that you need to ask yourselves: logically speaking, how can you prove something to be true if you don't know that anything is true? That is where the problem in mathematics comes along. Mathematics proves everything that is an aspect of mathematics to be true, but it hits a brick wall when it comes to that question. You cannot prove something to be true unless you know something else to be true. Thus, faith enters the equation.
To quote Dr. Bell, "Axioms are the articles of faith for mathematicians." To be truthful, Axioms are no more than glorified assumptions, but we give them that fancy name so it sounds like they are facts. From those Axioms, we prove one thing; using the Axioms and the one thing we proved, we prove another thing (repeat as necessary). In other words, take any theorem in mathematics, trace it through all of the theorems that prove it, and eventually you arrive at the Axioms. Mathematicians faith in the truth of these Axioms is what keeps us striving for perfection.
Basically, without faith, Mathematics would not exist. Until next time everyone.
Now, to the topic at hand. I have heard some people mention to me that mathematics in no way involves faith; I guess you could say they believed mathematics to be the antithesis of what faith is. I am basically going to clarify this point and see how it goes.
Mathematics runs off of logic. Because of this fact, we have to rely on logical means to do everything that we want to do with mathematics. So now I have a question that you need to ask yourselves: logically speaking, how can you prove something to be true if you don't know that anything is true? That is where the problem in mathematics comes along. Mathematics proves everything that is an aspect of mathematics to be true, but it hits a brick wall when it comes to that question. You cannot prove something to be true unless you know something else to be true. Thus, faith enters the equation.
To quote Dr. Bell, "Axioms are the articles of faith for mathematicians." To be truthful, Axioms are no more than glorified assumptions, but we give them that fancy name so it sounds like they are facts. From those Axioms, we prove one thing; using the Axioms and the one thing we proved, we prove another thing (repeat as necessary). In other words, take any theorem in mathematics, trace it through all of the theorems that prove it, and eventually you arrive at the Axioms. Mathematicians faith in the truth of these Axioms is what keeps us striving for perfection.
Basically, without faith, Mathematics would not exist. Until next time everyone.