Is mathematics invented or discovered? I want to analyze this seemingly simple question briefly in this essay. This question has created a dispute among mathematicians for as long as mathematics has existed. Some say that mathematics is totally invented, others say that it is largely discovered while a final group says that it is a mixture of the two. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayThese are the three different types of views on this question. The first two have been associated with schools of thought called Formalism and Platonism respectively. The third school brings together ideas from both Formalism and Platonism, as it mixes them in some way. The side of Platonism was started by Plato and his famous statement that "all mathematical concepts were as concrete and real as the universe itself, regardless of our knowledge of them." He believed that we humans had discovered mathematics and saw it only as a spiritual way to arrive at knowledge that already existed. On the side of formalism, Einstein and many other mathematicians such as David Hilbert or Georg Cantor believed that mathematics was a set of invented tools. Famous philosophers such as Aristotle argued that “mathematics did not exist as an independent entity. Mathematics is simply the result of logical operations based on syllogisms, and the search begins with axioms.” Axioms are statements that are assumed to be true without having actual proof, for example, if a=b and b=c then a must equal c. This Einstein example is completely made up because there is no concrete evidence of it - it could not have been discovered. The latter school believes that mathematics is invented and discovered. A 19th century German mathematics professor stated: “God created the natural numbers, everything else is the work of man.” This can be seen for example through integers. Positive integers have always been there, they have meaning in nature. On the other hand, negative integers were just an invention of man and serve no real purpose in nature. Most mathematicians argue that numbers can physically exist, but mathematical statements do not. For them, invention and discovery both play a crucial role. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay As visible in the brief analysis above, particularly brilliant people have tried to answer the question of whether mathematics was invented or discovered. Since it is very difficult to say with 100% certainty that it is one or the other, it is very likely that this debate will continue. Often, in these types of situations, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Therefore I would personally support the third school of thought.