A number of famous mathematicians have made comments about mathematics and various notions of God. These mathematicians span different religions and conceptions of deity, including none at all. Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School of Mathematics Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mathematics Look up Mathematics in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mathematics Inter. ... God is the Supreme Being believed to exist in monotheistic religions as the creator and ruler of the Universe. ... A deity or a god, is a postulated preternatural being, usually, but not always, of significant power, worshipped, thought holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, or respected by human beings. ...

God as the source of rational order

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about:

Transwiki:Mathematics and God

Many mathematicians have expressed the view that God is in some way responsible for the rational order described so successfully by mathematics. This often involves likening God to a mathematician. Image File history File links i would like to see some quotations by or about goebbels. ... Wikiquote logo Wikiquote is a sister project of Wikipedia, using the same MediaWiki software. ...

The ancient Greek study of mathematics was closely related to that of religion. Plato is quoted as saying "God ever geometrizes" and Pythagoras as saying "numbers rule the Universe". Ancient Greece is the term used to describe the Greek-speaking world in ancient times. ... Plato (Greek: Πλάτων Plátōn) (ca. ... This topic is considered to be an essential subject on Wikipedia. ...

Johannes Kepler stated that "The chief aim of all investigations of the external world should be to discover the rational order and harmony which has been imposed on it by God and which He revealed to us in the language of mathematics." m Johannes Kepler (December 27, 1571 – November 15, 1630), a key figure in the scientific revolution, was a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer of famed brilliance. ...

Leopold Kronecker is quoted as saying "God made the natural numbers, all the rest is the work of man." However, this was intended more in the Kantian sense that they are given to us in intuition than in the literal sense that God created them. Leopold Kronecker Leopold Kronecker (December 7, 1823 - December 29, 1891) was a German mathematician and logician who argued that arithmetic and analysis must be founded on whole numbers, saying, God made the integers; all else is the work of man (Bell 1986, p. ... Natural number can mean either a positive integer (1, 2, 3, 4, ...) or a non-negative integer (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, ...). Natural numbers have two main purposes: they can be used for counting (there are 3 apples on the table), and they can be used for ordering (this is...

James Jeans said "From the intrinsic evidence of his creation, the Great Architect of the Universe begins to appear as a pure mathematician". Sir James Hopwood Jeans (born Ormskirk, September 11, 1877, died Dorking, September 16, 1946) was a British physicist, astronomer and mathematician who was the first to propose the theory of continuous creation of matter in the universe. ...

According to Henri Poincaré, "If God speaks to man, he undoubtedly uses the language of mathematics." Henri Poincaré, photograph from the frontispiece of the 1913 edition of Last Thoughts Jules Henri Poincaré (April 29, 1854 – July 17, 1912), generally known as Henri Poincaré, was one of Frances greatest mathematicians, theoretical scientists and a philosopher of science. ...

Georg Cantor equated what he called the Absolute Infinite with God. He held that the Absolute Infinite had various mathematical properties, including that every property of the Absolute Infinite is also held by some smaller object. Georg Cantor Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor (March 3, 1845 – January 6, 1918) was a mathematician who was born in Russia and lived in Germany for most of his life. ... The Absolute Infinite is Georg Cantors concept of an infinity that transcended the transfinite numbers. ...

According to Srinivasa Ramanujan, "an equation is meaningless to me unless it expresses a thought of God." He often said that in Mathematics alone, one can have a concrete realisation of God. 0/0, he used to ask, "what is its value?" It may be anything. "The zero of the numerator may be several times the zero of denominator and vice versa. The value cannot be determined. In the same way 2ⁿ − 1 will denote the primordial God and several divinities. When n is zero the expression denotes zero, there is nothing; when n is 1, the expression denotes unity, the Infinite God. When n is 2, the expression denotes Trinity; when n is 3, the expression denotes 7, the Saptha Rishis (Seven Sages of Ursa Major) and so on.^{[1] [2]} Ramanujan Srinivasa Aiyangar Ramanujan (Tamil: ஸ்ரீனிவாஸ ஐயங்கார் ராமானுஜன்) (December 22, 1887 – April 26, 1920) was a groundbreaking Indian mathematician. ... The word unity simply means oneness and is used in a variety of ways: In mathematics, unity refers to the number one. ... Infinity is a word carrying a number of different meanings in mathematics, philosophy, theology and everyday life. ... The Christian doctrine of the Trinity states that God is a single being who exists, simultaneously and eternally, as a communion of three Persons: the Father, the Son (the eternal Logos, incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth), and the Holy Spirit. ... Ursa Major (Ursa Maior in Latin) is a constellation visible throughout the year in the northern hemisphere. ...

Paul Erdős, though agnostic, jokingly called God the Supreme Fascist. He claimed that the SF had a transfinite tome called "The Book", in which all provable theorems were demonstrated in the most elegant possible way, the best ones being kept secret. Paul ErdÅ‘s Paul ErdÅ‘s also Pál ErdÅ‘s, in English Paul Erdos or Paul Erdös, (March 26, 1913 – September 20, 1996) was an immensely prolific (and famously eccentric) Hungarian mathematician who, with hundreds of collaborators, worked on problems in combinatorics, graph theory, number theory, classical analysis... The term agnosticism and the related agnostic were coined by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1869. ... Transfinite numbers, also known as infinite numbers, are numbers that are not finite. ...

Paul Halmos, in a 1990 interview, says "What's the best part of being a mathematician? I'm not a religious man, but it's almost like being in touch with God when you're thinking about mathematics. God is keeping secrets from us, and it's fun to try to learn some of the secrets." Paul Halmos Paul Richard Halmos (born March 3, 1916) is a Hungarian-born American mathematician who has done research in the fields of logarithm theory, probability theory, statistics, operator theory, ergodic theory, and functional analysis (in particular, Hilbert spaces). ...

God as human invention

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar claimed "God is man's greatest invention." Chandra in his later years. ...

Bertrand Russell wrote "None of us would seriously consider the possibility that all the gods of Homer really exist, and yet if you were to set to work to give a logical demonstration that Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, and the rest of them did not exist you would find it an awful job. … There is exactly the same degree of possibility and likelihood of the existence of the Christian God as there is of the existence of the Homeric gods." Wikisource has original works written by or about: Bertrand Russell Writings available online A Free Mans Worship (1903) Am I an Atheist or an Agnostic? Icarus: The Future of Science Has Religion Made Useful Contributions to Civilization? Ideas that Have Harmed Mankind In Praise of Idleness (1932) Nobel Lecture...

William Kingdon Clifford, in "The Ethics of Belief", observed: "The Prophet tells us that there is one God, and that we shall live for ever in joy or misery, according as we believe in the Prophet or not. The Buddha says that there is no God, and that we shall be annihilated by and by if we are good enough. Both cannot be infallibly inspired; one or the other must have been the victim of a delusion, and thought he knew that which he really did not know. Who shall dare to say which? and how can we justify ourselves in believing that the other was not also deluded?" William Kingdon Clifford. ...

Pierre-Simon Laplace answered Napoleon's remark that he saw no mention of God in Celestial Mechanics by saying "I have no need of that hypothesis." Pierre-Simon Laplace Pierre-Simon, Marquis de Laplace (March 23, 1749 – March 5, 1827) was a French mathematician and astronomer who put the final capstone on mathematical astronomy by summarizing and extending the work of his predecessors in his five volume Mécanique Céleste (Celestial Mechanics) (1799-1825). ... For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation). ...

G. H. Hardy, the story goes, despite being an atheist sent postcards claiming he had proved the Riemann hypothesis when he had to brave a trip by boat, on the theory that God would not allow him to die leaving this grandiose claim unconfirmed. G. H. Hardy Professor Godfrey Harold Hardy FRS (February 7, 1877 – December 1, 1947) was a prominent British mathematician, known for his achievements in number theory and mathematical analysis. ... In mathematics, the Riemann hypothesis (also called the Riemann zeta hypothesis), first formulated by Bernhard Riemann in 1859, is one of the most famous of all unsolved problems. ...

Mathematical "proofs" of the existence of God

Saint Anselm's ontological argument sought to use logic to prove the existence of God. A more elaborate version was given by Gottfried Leibniz. Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033 or 1034 - April 21, 1109), a widely influential medieval philosopher and theologian, held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109. ... In theology and the philosophy of religion, an ontological argument for the existence of God is an argument that Gods existence can be proved a priori, that is, by intuition and reason alone. ... Logic, from Classical Greek λόγος (logos), originally meaning the word, or what is spoken, (but coming to mean thought or reason) is most often said to be the study of arguments, although the exact definition of logic is a matter of controversy among philosophers. ... This article needs copyediting (checking for proper English spelling, grammar, usage, tone, style, and voice). ...

René Descartes, in his Meditations on First Philosophy, attempted to carefully ascertain what he really knew to be true, which led to a supposed proof of God's existence. Wikisource has original works written by or about: René Descartes Works by René Descartes at Project Gutenberg A summary of his book A Discourse On Method French French Audio Book (mp3) : excerpt about animals/machines from Discourse On the Method Discourse On the Method – at Project Gutenberg Selections from the... Meditations on First Philosophy (subtitled In which the existence of God and the real distinction of mind and body, are demonstrated), written by René Descartes (1596 - 1650) and first published in 1641, expands upon Descartes philosophical system, which he first introduced in his Discourse on Method (1637). ...

Kurt Gödel created a formalization of Leibniz' version of the ontological argument for God's existence known as Gödel's ontological proof. Kurt Gödel Kurt Gödel [kurt gøːdl], (April 28, 1906 – January 14, 1978) was a logician, mathematician, and philosopher of mathematics. ... Gödels ontological proof is a formalization of Saint Anselms ontological argument for Gods existence by the mathematician Kurt Gödel. ...

Recently, Stephen D. Unwin employed Bayesian probabilities, a statistical method devised by 18th-century Presbyterian minister and mathematician Reverend Thomas Bayes, to compute the probability of God's existence. Stephen D.Unwins book The Probability of God argues that a mathematical equation developed by Thomas Bayes can be used to calculate the probability that God exists. ... Bayesianism is the philosophical tenet that the mathematical theory of probability applies to the degree of plausibility of a statement. ... Presbyterianism is part of the Reformed churches family of denominations of Christian Protestantism based on the teachings of John Calvin which traces its institutional roots to the Scottish Reformation, especially as led by John Knox. ... Thomas Bayes Reverend Thomas Bayes (c. ... The word probability derives from the Latin probare (to prove, or to test). ...

Notes

1. ^  Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam's address at the International Conference on "Number Theory for Secure Communications". At the Srinivasa Ramanujan Centre, SASTRA, Kumbakonam, 20 December 2003.
2. ^  "Number and Spirit", by Dr. Ragina Clark.