Hello all, what do you think is more fundamental to science, language or math? Without language, we have no way to describe the world around us or confirm our experiences. Math on the other hand is self evident and can produce accurate formulas for predicting the world. The two go hand in hand in science, do you think one is more important than the other? Can the math hold up science without language? Can the language hold up science without math? Science is a pretty broad term, so tell me what you think
I think it's pretty clear that language is more important. You can describe essentially anything with language. You wouldn't be able to put things out mathematically or predict things, but all the basic knowledge would be there. If it was just math, you would just see a bunch of numbers and not know what anything meant. At the very least, you would need to have some language explaining what the math is, but of course without any language, the math would be absolutely meaningless.
"Mathematics is the only language shared by all human beings regardless of culture, religion, or gender. Pi is still approximately 3.14159 regardless of what country you are in. Adding up the cost of a basket full of groceries involves the same math process regardless of whether the total is expressed in dollars, rubles, or yen. With this universal language, all of us, no matter what our unit of exchange, are likely to arrive at math results the same way. Very few people, if any, are literate in all the world's tongues-English, Chinese, Arabic, Bengali, and so on. But virtually all of us possess the ability to be "literate" in the shared language of math. This math literacy is called numeracy, and it is this shared language of numbers that connects us with people across continents and through time. It is what links ancient scholars and medieval merchants, astronauts and artists, peasants and presidents. With this language we can explain the mysteries of the universe or the secrets of DNA. We can understand the forces of planetary motion, discover cures for catastrophic diseases, or calculate the distance from Boston to Bangkok. We can make chocolate chip cookies or save money for retirement. We can build computers and transfer information across the globe. Math is not just for calculus majors. It's for all of us. And it's not just about pondering imaginary numbers or calculating difficult equations. It's about making better daily decisions and, hopefully, leading richer, fuller lives." Source
^ (first paragraph in justin's post) what you cited was basically why language is more important. Math, science (music, if you understand how music is math, if not I am not explaining it) are all the same no matter what you talk to no matter were you are. Even animals are capable of some degree of math, they can distinguish 1 object from 2, from 3, etc. they are capable of counting (alittle). Also, science is just math, in action. Language however is unique to our species, and unique to all other creatures that communicate to each other in any way. Language is ever changing and math isn't.
Remember, fundamental means "being the basis of" or "serving as the generating source". Language is a by product of sociology, which is based on psychology, which is based on biology, which is based on chemistry, which is based on physics, which is based on math. I would say that what you just said is why math is more fundamental to Science. Languages are born and die, they change and vary. Even the same words in a language are spoken differently from region to region, and even person to person, and can be interpreted differently on the same criteria. Math, however, is true. It does not change, it only expands, and everything that expands from it is based on the same basic principles. New mathematical theorems being found today are based on theorems that were developed thousands of years ago. Those early mathematicians spoke languages that are long dead, some even forgotten, but their findings in math will live forever.
