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Single Idea 9621

[from 'Philosophy of Mathematics' by James Robert Brown, in 6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 4. Using Numbers / g. Applying mathematics ]

Full Idea

Mathematics hooks onto the world by providing representations in the form of structurally similar models.

Gist of Idea

Mathematics represents the world through structurally similar models.

Source

James Robert Brown (Philosophy of Mathematics [1999], Ch. 4)

Book Reference

Brown,James Robert: 'Philosophy of Mathematics' [Routledge 2002], p.49


A Reaction

This is Brown's conclusion. It needs notions of mapping, one-to-one correspondence, and similarity. I like the idea of a 'model', as used in both logic and mathematics, and children's hobbies. The mind is a model-making machine.