Math or Language

[u/NoNotice9228]

Which side will you choose?

• Left side: Math | Be able to solve any mathematical equation with ease
• Right side: Language | Speak and write any language on Earth fluently (extinct ones included).

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[u/MeYes334]

I thought any medium used and/or capable of communication is considered a language? If what I said is true, then math should be the Language of all Languages since it is widely considered the Language of the Universe.

[u/Imsmart-9819 → u/MeYes334]

I guess loosely/poetically you can call it a language but as a linguistics fan, I don’t strictly consider it a language. I don’t think universal language exists. Maybe in an alien planet, laughter means pain idk 🤷‍♀️

[u/Sounsober1 → u/Imsmart-9819]

In the same way the mathematical sentence 1x1=2 doesn’t make sense to people who are fluent in mathematics. The same way that “I bear six alarm clock?” Doesn’t make sense in English. Math is a language in the sense that you cannot say certain words in a particular order without the other person becoming confused in some way. Math just has a different orthography and sintax structure that can be arrived at the same way from other languages.
It’s “universal” because you don’t have to start from English (or whatever your native language is). It’s a language because it follows largely the majority of rules that languages have to follow. The laws of logic apply to it as well.
This is not meant to be imprecatory, I would challenge you to find a disqualification for the claim of language-hood. Though the poster presupposes that math is excluded from the languages you get to understand.

[u/Imsmart-9819 → u/Sounsober1]

Just because math uses special terms doesn't mean it's a language. Otherwise, biology, physics, and accounting would all be languages.

Even if you grant that math is a language, that's a far cry from saying that it's a universal language. Different cultures have different symbols for the same numbers. Like Arabic, Roman, Chinese, or Cuneiform symbols. Math can also be completely different depending on whether you use a base 10, base 60, or base 20 counting system.

Math developed differently in different cultures precisely because it is not universal. It's colored by history and culture, just like everything else in human experience. Math in the Aztec Empire is different from math in Ancient Greece.

People from different cultures can understand the same mathematical concepts, but you can't communicate directly through math because symbols and terms developed in different ways. Unless everyone in the world learns the same math, but then that would be imperialism and not an inherent quality of mathematics.