Domain
State of the field
Whether mathematics is discovered or invented, and why physical law is so mathematical, are live questions at the border of philosophy and physics.
Wigner observes that abstract mathematics developed for its own sake repeatedly turns out to describe physical reality with uncanny precision.
Tegmark proposes that physical reality is a mathematical structure, implying the effectiveness of mathematics is definitional rather than mysterious.
Laudan notes that many past successful theories were later judged false, cautioning against inferring that our current best theories are true descriptions of re…