A Brief History of Mathematics
Three eras of math: describing nature, extrapolating abstractly, then being shocked that the made-up abstractions describe nature.
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Cartoon by Ben Orlin, Math with Bad Drawings. https://cartoons.mathwithbaddrawings.com/2025-06-16-a-brief-history-of-mathematics/ (CC BY-NC 4.0)Transcript
[Title] "A BRIEF HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS"
[10,000 BCE to 1800 CE] A: "Let's document and explore these patterns in nature." B: "Ooh, let's!"
[1800 to 1950] A (at board: Σ 1/nˢ): "Let's extrapolate those patterns a bit, shall we?" B: "We shall!"
[1950 to present] A: "Whoa whoa WHOA!!! Did you realize those patterns, which we TOTALLY MADE UP, actually somehow fit stuff in NATURE?!?" B: "*GASP*"