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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2503 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for March 13, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Do you think that mathematical theorems are discovered or invented? I have a segue I want to make from this question (it involves a book that was popular w few years ago), but first I'd like to hear your opinions on that.

Typically discovered, but as you get into more niche parts of mathematics, I think the construction of useful, novel axioms and the proofs therefrom move closer to invented. "The Rubicks Cube group has always existed" is a valid take, but feels weird to me.

I suppose this is related to the question of whether the basic axioms and concepts are truly universal (true in any universe), or whether, say, a hypothetical universe with different prime numbers could exist. Did God create the integers?

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