Were Maths/Numbers invented or discovered?

I suspect cave man had two rocks and it went something like this... 'got sum fings ere', 'what fings'. 'rocks!'. 'need more rocks'. 'I get rocks' 'errr' 'how many rocks?' 'dis many' 'ow many?' 'more... ...like dis'. 'ah, durgle' 'yeh, I need durgle more rocks right now. Go get durgle rocks', 'ahh!' 'durgle, mammoth!!'. 'foget durgle rocks!, kill durgle mammoth!' 'get them!'.

and so man started to count.

The more complex numbers and such came later.

You will need to do a calculation to see if it was invented or discovered... :)

Quantities have always existed. Man just created math to refer to those quantities. And it's not like math was born overnight or anything, it formed over time as a compilation of ideas from a lot of different people.

Statement : a = b Assuming a and b > 0, then;

Step 1 : a2 = ab Step 2 : a2 - b2 = ab - b2 Step 3 : (a + b)(a - b) = b(a - b) Step 4 : (a + b) = b Step 5 : b + b = b Step 6 : 2b = b

Solution : 2 = 1

Invented by God, discovered by man.

Like words, numbers where invented. But maths was around long before numbers (Abacus) .

this depends on the side of the mathematics debate you are on. i take the stand point that they are created to represent real world events. So in that regard they are invented. However, some mathematicians will say that they where always there, they where discovered. they look at the real world and go "hey this has math within it", not "i can apply math to this."

discovery are discovered in a moment in time, however math took years to evolve with may scientist and mathematicians to come up with functions and rules to structure around it.

to the mathematicians credit, there are some very odd things in nature such as the golden ratio, which can be found within shells, flowers, it also is found pleasing to the eye, this can be thought of as math within nature.

pi is another example, pi can do more then find the area and circumference of a circle, it has been found to be related to the probability of a pencil falling on lines that are strategically placed apart.

so i am taking the standpoint that man created it to explain real world observations such as telling time, finding distances, locations ext.

"But God was invented by man... so it was invented by man too. (17 hours ago) Alex Wedlake

Depends on your religion surely

Higher math was invented/discovered by Egyptians (the pyramids) Pythagoras, Newton, and many more mathematicians.

"And stop calling me Shirley!!" Leslie Nielson, RIP

Ideas such as numbers and functions are derived from the basic principles of maths. Though I can't remember exactly how many there is or what they are, they are assumptions such as "if two lines of infinite length never meet, then they are in parallel".

Quantity and comparison were discovered; maths (symbols and notations) were invented.