Is a Discovery an Invention or Is an Invention a Discovery?
Is a discovery an invention or is an invention a discovery? This is one question that can probably never be answered. A discovery can be defined as something which already existed, and is excavated after one notice’s it or proves its existence . Invention is the creation of something which didn’t exist before it was created by a genius mind . For instance, Newton discovered the existence of gravity when an apple fell on his head. It did exist before Newton realizes its existence, but then why didn’t anyone else notice its existence except him? Hence it is said that Newton discovered gravity. Whereas on the other hand Thomas Alva Edison was the first person to make the electric bulb and his technology was a baby of his brain which didn’t exist before he created it, hence it is said to be an invention. Almost all Areas of knowledge namely History, Art, Natural Science, Mathematics, Human science and ethics are both discovered and invented if different point of views are taken into consideration. Is mathematics invented or discovered? There are two questions which arise in the minds of people when they think of this. If math was discovered, where and how is one exactly looking for it? Is mathematics a language? The way poets add new words to English making it more understandable and expressive; does a mathematician do the same with numbers to make it as connected and expressive it is? Or did they just point out at things which always existed but were waiting to be discovered. And if it was that, then why it did only appear to these big minds and not to common men. How could Newton and Leibniz, who stayed seas apart, come up to almost the same conclusions regarding calculus, in the same time period? Since they did reach at the same conclusions, their source of knowledge would also be similar hence maths could be discovered. On the other hand if math was invented, why wouldn’t we see the truth in “2+2=5”? Mathematics is based on a
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