Why is mathematics the language of nature? Doreen Fraser, University of Waterloo, Canada
Talk
Event details
Department of Mathematics Lecture
Physicist Eugene Wigner famously declared applied mathematics to be “a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor deserve.” Proposed explanations for our successful use of mathematics in science have ranged from the mystical to the theological to the pragmatic. We will survey some of these explanations and assess whether applied mathematics can be given a rational explanation or whether it remains mysterious.