The last post asked, “Is mathematics fiction or nonfiction?”  Here’s a recap of the discussion so far: One definition for math is “the science of patterns.” Science and technology depend on math. Disciplines like chemistry, physics, and computer science are made possible by the quantitative study of real-world patterns. This makes it seem like math is […]

I recently spoke to a mathematician who said he only liked reading fiction. “Fiction and math?” someone asked. “No,” he said, “I count math as fiction.” … If you ask people, “Is mathematics fiction or nonfiction?” you get wildly different responses. Some people don’t even understand the question—of course it’s nonfiction! Yet many others, including […]