Mathematics the creation of the human mind or in what way is mathematics rooted in the physical universe around us,is a open question. When Bill Thurston, a famous topologist from Berkeley who died recently, says that a mathematician is one who helps in the human understanding of mathematics, he is only endorsing the view that mathematics is divine and that it resides entirely in the human mind. All the same, we know that mathematicians conceived of black holes long before physicists actually found them, even when certain important problems in mathematics – and, more importantly, their solutions – belonging to the so-called low-dimensional topology were motivated by certain considerations arising in theoretical physics! .This dual nature of mathematics combining in itself elements of art and science is singularly unique to the practice of mathematics and is not encountered in any other domain of human endeavour.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 19:06:36 +0000
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