Mathematics Masterclass: Is Mathematics Discovered or Invented?

Author(s): Stuart Rowlands and Alan Davies

Source: Mathematics in School, Vol. 40, No. 3 (MAY 2011), pp. 30-34
Published by: The Mathematical Association
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 Mathematics Masterclass
Masterclass:
Is Mathematics
Discovered or Invented? ( )
Tzr

by Stuart Rowlands and Alan Davies

In the mathematical education Each year there have ofbeen a young

number of different people
responses the
almost total concentration on learning concepts and in the write-up of their position, such as mathematics
developing techniques. There is very little opportunity for is discovered, invented, invention leading to discovery,
school pupils to engage in the articulation of mathematical discovery leading to invention, both invention and discovery,
ideas. However, in suitable circumstances they can make undecided. The following contains 37 extracts from a sample
excellent contributions within a debate. In this article we of 34 pupils (perhaps a few more pupils as it is not certain
describe a set of seven sessions involving year 10 pupils in a response was a joint response, which were very few in
which
residential setting. number) out of a total of 91 responses over the seven years.
Unfortunately, there was no opportunity to exploit the issues
that they raised in their write-up. However, in a normal
Introduction classroom setting the opportunity would be there to do just
that.
For three days every June for the past seven years, talented
year 10 pupils from Hertfordshire, Devon and Cornwall Discovered
came together to participate in three-day residential courses.
These courses were joint activities between the
There were a variety of reasons given as to why mathemat
Hertfordshire and Plymouth Royal Institution masterclass
is discovered rather than invented. There has been no
groups and they have been developed to build on the year 9
recourse to Platonic forms, but there is a sense in which
series which each group runs every year.
mathematical forms have existed prior to the realization tha
In the two-hour session "Is Mathematics Discovered or they exist. The parallel with television as a discovery is quite
interesting:
Invented?" pupils are engaged in an introduction to
philosophy. The form of the session is Socratic: the teacher Discovered - mathematicians just put it in a sensible wa
asks a question and the pupils respond. The teacher then of understanding it. If it's not written down, it doesn
either draws out the implication of the response or asks mean that a theorem isn't true.
another question based on the response. The aim of the
Everything has always existed with the purpose of being
discourse is for pupils to reach a position as to whether
discovered and used. Patterns, relationships, links and
mathematics is invented or discovered and to argue their
theorems have been discovered, but have always existed
position. Fifteen to twenty minutes before the end, pupils before then.
are invited to write down their arguments. Below is a sample
taken from those arguments. All inventions are discoveries. The reasons why
something like a TV works have always existed but John
By way of introduction, pupils are told the story of Socrates L. Baird discovered them and invented TV. This means
and the slave boy in Plato's Meno (Plato, 1961). By that the TV was discovered not invented just as maths
responding to Socrates' questions, the slave boy is led to theories have always existed and will be discovered.
Pythagoras' theorem without information given (although
one could say that the questions were 'loaded'). Socrates Some pupils have given very sophisticated arguments as to
does this to prove the immortality of the soul: if the slave why mathematics is discovered. The following two argue
boy deduces a geometrical theorem and recognizes this as a that mathematics mirrors our cognitive structures/neural
necessary truth, then where does this recognition come networks in the sense that we are 'wired' with mathematics.
from, given that the slave boy has had no education in
Maths was discovered because it was already in people's
geometry? It is from this point that the Socratic discussion
brains. They just needed to be told about it or needed to
begins with the class. Pupils are told that they need not fear
think about it to bring it out of them and make them
giving an answer to a question or making a contribution. All
realize it was there.
are encouraged to partake in the discussion, to listen to other
contributions before making their own, not to ridicule I believe that maths is an innate system that we can all
others and not to hog the limelight. At certain points relate to, because it has roots in all of us. Maths is
explanations have to be made, such as necessary truth and something in our minds, and has slowly been discovered
Platonic form. as a form we all understand - a universal language.

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This may be an answer to the age-old problem that, if knowledge. I am reminded of a quote I once was told "
mathematics exists as Platonic forms, then how does the the island of our knowledge grows so does the shore of ou
intuition of mathematicians reveal these forms? The answer ignorance".
given by these two pupils may be expressed as: mathematics
mirrors our schematic structures, we only need to reflect and
form an appropriate language to reveal the mathematics. In Invented
the following excerpt the pupil argues for discovery, but
what is discovered may be expressed in different ways: The following arguments for invention do not mention
mathematics as a body of necessary truths. There is no
That the angles of a triangle equalizing 180° has always
mention that, for example, 1 4- 1 = 2 is true and always has
existed but the person who discovered it could have
been independent of location and how it is expressed. There
perceived it in a different way and it could have been
is, instead, the germ of the idea that mathematics is fallible
described completely differently. Just like imperial and
metric.
and subject to change. There is also an implied notion that
mathematics is a form of activity. The following excerpt is
an exemplar and can serve to represent the position of many
This implies that the pupil would realize the difference
pupils over the years:
between the angles of a triangle equals two right angles as a
necessary truth with 180° as a social convention. It would be I think maths is invented:
almost trivial to state that this pupil would have no difficulty
• Theories are developed to fit in and work with what's
in understanding 180° = 2n radians.
already there.

The Platonic realm of Forms may not exist, but • If something doesn't work it's scrapped.
mathematics tells us what the Forms are if they did exist:
• Theorems are involved to prove I disprove other things
There are so many shapes in the world, the chance of a (emphasis given).
perfect triangle occurring is almost impossible. Likewise,
Some who opted for invention gave elaborate arguments as
we cannot construct a perfect triangle but if we could the
rules involved could be proved correct. to how mathematics was invented. For example,

We can invent concepts to explain, but what is explainedMathematics was invented because it is a way of relating
must already exist: one object to another. Before maths existed nothing
related to anything else and everything was an individual
Patterns, formulae and rules exist in nature, in the orbits
object. After maths was invented, objects began to be
of planets, the make up of sunflowers, etc. Humankind
grouped. For example, we now had these trees and not a
never invented this, if we had invented it then we would
few individual trees. We choose how to group and relate
have the ability to begin it, to alter it, to end it. If this is
objects to one another, we did not discover it. For
what happened, then nothing would have existed before
example, three objects did not create a triangle until we
humankind existed - surely things did. We can invent invented the lines and the lines between them. We could
concepts to explain things, to create shortcuts but we not count until we invented the numbers to count with.
aren't inventing things that already exist and maths is
explaining truths that exist. We cannot invent something
Mathematics is a human activity born out of the ability to
unless it has a basis on something that exists, if we
group objects, form relations out of doing so and create
visualize it in our mind then it already exist - we are
theoretical objects such as lines, triangles and numbers in
progressing on concept, a rationalization. If there were no
the process. The following response is worth quoting in full
truths, then things would collapse. We discover these
because it expresses a number of philosophical points that
truths by inventing a way to understand them.
bear a similarity with some of the arguments of the
philosophers.
After arguing that mathematics is discovered, the following
pupil concludes with what first appears to be a contradictory The potential for a series of conventions applicable for a
statement to what s/he had written previously: specific numerical system exists, before the system itself,
just like the potential for a man jumping off a wall exists
Truths have always existed, but with no-one to know that
before the man does. Therefore, as soon as one element of
they do they can't have existed and every geometric shape
a potential mathematical system becomes convention,
is a combination of a discovery and an invention, because
everything peripheral to it automatically becomes
it is there but with no-one to know it's there, it isn't there.
convention, waiting to be discovered, as does the basis of
the number system.
If truths have always existed, but they don't exist if no-one
knows of their existence, then there has to be at least one Also, maths in general does not exist. It is merely a way of
knower, always. Ergo, truth is in the mind of God. This may simplifying chaos, bringing order to it. Outside of
not be what the pupil had in mind, but it is an implicationintelligent beings order does not exist and so maths can
and one that s/he may agree with. only be conceptual and no conception is set in stone.
From each concept there are an infinite number of
The following example is from a pupil who may be described divergences, all existing regardless of which becomes
as a philosophical sceptic: he asserts what he thinks is the
convention, meaning they are merely undiscovered.
case but also states that the assertion is one of belief rather
The first being which stated that 1 + 1=2 was not
than knowledge.
inventing a way of representing a necessary truth, merely
I feel (I say 'I feel' because 'I think' is a far too confident discovering a potential for representing it. Equally, three
random objects do not form the pattern of a triangle
phrase for this answer) that maths was never invented. I
believe it exists as a truth. No human intervention without someone there to witness it. It is just three
needed. But it is human nature to explore the boundaryrandom
of objects. It requires the person there to place the

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 concept of a triangle over it, or to witness it and relate it Perhaps most interestingly we have the idea that g
to a triangle to be a triangle. Meaning that person is shapes are inventions, but their properties are eter
discovering their potential to represent a shape.
Perfect circles, squares, triangles, etc. cannot exi
Therefore the natural world merely provides starting
physical world; they are concepts which were inv
points, the potential of the random points to be a triangle
is discovered. humans, but the properties of these shapes were
discovered - they have always existed, even before the
The whole system is built around mathematical truths, concept of the shapes were invented.
and because we accept they are true there are other things
we have to accept are true in turn. Therefore we cannot This is similar to the idea that the truth of 1 + 1 = 2 is both
invent truths, merely recognize or discover them. timeless and prior to the first person having the idea that
1 + 1=2 (i.e. the truth of a mathematical proposition is
Here we have Rubin Hersh's notion of the potential for prior to the proposition itself).
mathematical existence (Hersh, 1998), Kant's idea of
geometry as an example of the imposition of synthetic a
priori categories on what is given by sense perception Discovery Leading to Invention
(Smith, 1972) with just a hint of Lakatos' notion of fallibility
(Lakatos, 1976). These three components can loosely be The idea that mathematics is first discovered then invented
described in terms of Hersh, Kant and Lakatos and have a may at first seem a little odd, until you read the following
consistency between them. Ironically, however, the excerpts. The first does not contradict the idea that
theoretical frameworks of Kant and Lakatos are largely mathematics is first invented then discovered; just that prior
incompatible. One has to bear in mind that this is a 15-20 to the invention is the stimulus from sense perception that
minute response, yet it contains enough points to discuss at gave rise to the theoretical objects of mathematics.
length the philosophy of mathematics for quite a few I think that there is a mixture of how maths came to be.
classroom sessions.
Discovery(l) —> Invent(2) —» Discover and Invent(3).
(1)1 reckon that we discovered the idea of shapes and saw
Certain statements by the pupils appear to be muddled yet
things like spots and volcanoes for shapes like circles
are pregnant with possible inferences that would have been
and triangles.
worth pursuing. For example:
(2) Then we invented a perfected version of our shapes.
Was maths discovered or invented? Numbers - mental (3) Then we realized that our shapes had values and
objects. I think that maths was invented because it needs properties and we gave them their values and have
an intelligent species for it to be used. I do not think that been inventing formulas ever since.
it was discovered like for example the planets because that
means that maths has been created before that somehow The following echoes Popper's notion of the objective problem
because everything else in the universe has been createdsituation (Chalmers, 1982): that problems exist
and has not existed forever. independently of the cognizing subject, some of which ar
formalized and a solution sought.
Here the pupil distinguishes between discovering a planet
Maths was invented because it is an interpretation of
and discovery in mathematics, but what does she mean by
problems/situations that arise, and have arose, since th
creation? A discussion with the pupil might have been most
fruitful. beginning of time. Those problems were discovered, and
as a consequence we have invented maths in order to dea
with these problems.

Invention Leading to Discovery

Throughout these sessions pupils were asked questions that
Both Invention and Discovery
prompted the idea that mathematics is both invented (in
The following three examples of the ambivalence between
terms of defining theoretical objects and the operations
invention and discovery reveal an attempt to make sense o
therein) and discovered (in the sense of coming across the
the notions of invention and discovery:
properties of the objects invented) and many responses over
the years elaborated different versions of the same view. I believe that mathematical laws are discovered because
This was inevitable as the view that mathematics is first the rules must always be the same. Although numerac
invented then discovered was elaborated by the teacher from
was invented they all follow the same laws.
pupil responses that gave a cue to such an elaboration. The
There is no answer to this question there is a
following are snippets taken from the position that
mathematics is first invented then discovered. mixture of both. There are basic laws which have always
existed, such as the fact that two right angles make a
I think that maths was invented in the same way that straight line. It can be argued, however, that before
humans created language.... This was the main basis for humans existed there was nothing to define these laws.
maths and from there rules and theorems were Without definition, something cannot exist. Therefore,
discovered. when humans 'discovered' the necessary truths, they
came into being. Thus, invention. So the answer is,
Basic properties and basic ideas such as distance, time mathematics is invented and discovered at the same time.
and numbers must be invented. But theorems
surrounding these basic properties are discovered
We believebutthat mathematics is both invented and
only based on the invented properties. discovered. The concept of V has always existed, bu
name, description, rules and concept of n was inven
The concept of the name and thoughts of our maths was
After the base 10 number system was discovered a
invented, but the universal truth of the facts of maths was
invented, n could be described and therefore was
discovered - by the concept. discovered. Mathematics is infinite and therefore we will

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 never know all of it. Maths is not all recorded anywhere account of how abstraction is possible, but the point being
and so future discoveries must come from our brains and made is that what triggers an idea could be both a process of
so must be invented. invention and discovery. A clinical interview with this pupil
would have been most informative.
Of course, maths is recorded on printed and digital matter,
and n was discovered/invented and recorded prior to the
invention of base 10, but the third example above seems to Undecided
contain the germ of the idea that mathematical objects and
the necessary truths concerning them have always existed As in any sample you will always have the undecided, which,
and hence discovered, but it is through the activities of our in this case, is perhaps the wisest position to take, especially
brains that we invent these objects and what to do with
since this issue has been unresolved since the inception
them. We have a sense that mathematics existsof philosophy (and abstract mathematics) by Thales.
independently of human cognition, but discovery
Indecisionofis not
thatnecessarily a form of laziness. In this
case on
mathematics consists of invention that parallels thatthewhich
contrary, it indicates sensitivity to the issues
already exists. This notion is not uncommon.involved:
Consider the
following: I am not sure whether maths was discovered or invented.
The laws of maths were discovered because they were true I am finding it hard to decide because I can see how some
even before we discovered them. . . . However, our ideas parts of maths can be invented, such as triangles but I
and representations of the laws and principles of can't see how you could invent something like
mathematics were invented because they are purely made Pythagoras' theorem because it's a rule and you can't just
by people (emphasis given). make things like that up.
I think that as these truths exist independently of humans
Before giving arguments for both discovery and invention,
they are discovered, but the tools necessary to discover
one pupil stated what could be described as agnostic:
these truths are invented and lead our thoughts in the
right direction to discover them. Is mathematics invented or discovered? I think that the
statement can be argued either way, and that there is no
The purpose and functions on which mathematics works
real proof for either conviction. Because of this, whatever
are discovered but the concept is invented. The functions
I write down could have an equal and opposite argument.
are always there but unless someone invents the concept
it will never be discovered. For example, triangles always
Equal and opposite arguments were provided. Of course,
existed but unless someone invented the concept of
indecision may be a principle such as pragmatism. ..
triangles we wouldn't know about them. If someone had
divided a circle into 300 instead of 360 we would know it People say things can be proved but nothing can be
that way. I think that maths is created and discovered proved. Everyone sees maths differently and I'm not sure
because maths was always there before humans and we it really matters how it became just like it doesn't matter
had to unwrap a puzzle which lead to mathematics - so we how we exist. All I know is that it's here and I'm good at
had to discover it to understand it. it. Nothing else matters.

A novel approach is to regard necessary truth as prior to ... or a principle that does not admit to any pragmatic (or,
cognition but the 'forms' are created so as to reveal that more to the point, utilitarian) value:
truth:
We think that maths was invented by the Devil who
Mathematics is discovered because the rules that apply wanted to see children suffer in hour-long maths lessons
are necessary truths. However, the forms to describe because he is an evil sadist. A side effect of this is sad old
mathematics are invented as are the languages and men with too much time on their hands trying to work
pronunciations which express maths. out 7t when they should be eating it.

Perhaps the most sophisticated response is the idea that we Teachers are in the pay of the Devil but receive their salary
construct (invent) a mathematical concept in a way that it via the LEA! The second sentence is perhaps a little sexist
becomes universal: given that there are also elderly women mathematicians
I think mathematics is discovered and invented. (with perhaps very little time on their hands), but the point
is taken!
Something could have been seen and triggered off an idea.
That idea could have then been perfected and made into
Rather than answer the question, the following pupil
an invention. One example could be:
decided to place mathematics within a broader context:
Man is out walking. He sees an interesting shape. Maths
He could
is a section of science which is a theoretical
then develop that shape. He could make the lines different or
representation of the real world. The human mind wishe
change the angles. He could then call this shape the square.
to know what is right and will try to explain the wo
This shows that man has discovered something, that changed
they live in. When they know everything they will
it (changed the shape, made it neater). This is in in turn
control of their surroundings. Maybe that is the meani
creating something new. It is something that hasn't been
of life! (emphasis given).
seen before. It is a new concept. It is then given a name.
The name is not just applied to the one shape drawn. It is
Conclusion
a name given to a thing with similar properties to the one
drawn.
Of course, the pupils of a Maths Masterclass are bri
Making it 'neater' is presumably making it abstract or pupils, and perhaps we can expect them to engage in
idealized. We have what seems to be an epistemological philosophy as well as problems in mathematics. However,

Mathematics in School, May 2011 The MA website www.m-a.org.uk 33

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we firmly believe that, given the opportunity, most, if not This pupil was arguing against the idea that maths is
all, pupils would benefit from a discourse about mathematics discovered and had stated previously:
which would enhance their understanding of mathematics.
Say there are three stars in the sky, which could look like
An occasional meta-discourse might benefit pupils who may
a triangle. You could not, however, define it as an
be described as concrete thinkers because it provides an
equilateral triangle or a right-angled triangle, etc. because
opportunity to think about the very objects that they are
it is merely three dots in the sky. A person had to be there
asked to perform with, developing their ability to operate
to join up the dots and invent a name for it. ®
with those objects in the abstract. A meta-discourse involves
thinking about the objects of mathematics in contrast to
thinking with the objects of mathematics and its success can References
be gauged by the extent to which the pupils themselves
engage the discussion. Chalmers, A. 1982 What is this Thing Called Science?, Second edition, OU
Press, Milton Keynes.
We would like to conclude with several excerpts taken from Hersh, R. 1998 What is Mathematics Really?, Vintage, London.
a pupil who expressed scepticism of the slave boy's Lakatos, I. 1976 Proofs and Refutations, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge.
mathematics related to his immortal soul (e.g. "how did
Plato 1961 Plato Complete, Princeton University Press, New Jersey. The
Socrates know that the boy had already learned it"; "if the Meno is of course the classic text concerning mathematics and the Forms.
soul is immortal why would it make the person forget what (The mature Plato and the Forms can be found in the Republic. If you
they had previously learned?"): like your Forms a little racy then read the Symposium.)
Smith, N.K. (translator) 1976 Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason,
I think that the boy may have been quite intelligent and Macmillan, London. (A very readable introduction can be found in
that by asking questions Socrates was actually teaching Korner, S. 1972, Kant, Penguin, Harmondsworth.)
him about Pythagoras. I have heard a lot of teachers say
that the best way to get kids to learn things is by making
them think about it and you do that by asking them Keywords: Philosophy; Meta-discourse; Invention; Discovery.
questions Socrates gave the boy the idea of the squares
so he gave him a starting point. He then asked the boy aAuthors
lot of questions making him think about the problem. I Stuart Rowlands, Centre for Teaching Mathematics, University of
Plymouth, Plymouth.
think it is possible for the boy to have proved Pythagoras Alan Davies, School of Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics, University of
without having had an education. Hertfordshire, ALIO 9AB.

This article was previously published in the March 2006 issue of Mathematics in
School (MiS, 35, 2, pp. 2-6), and has been chosen to be republished by John Berry.

forming ^Igefirciic Expressions

This puzzle provides a nice warm-up activity for students learning algebra as a way of getting the brain in gear and for
encouraging working in pairs. The rules are quite simple:

Using the four expressions on the edges of the 'card' with the operations +, —, x, +
and squaring, form the expression in the middle of the 'card'. You must use each
expression once and only once.

3x

4x + 3 2x

4x

Make up your own card to challenge other students in your class.

John Berry

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