Mathematics versus Science?
by Tatiana Velitchkov © 2009

The field of science is wide and although Mathematics has sometimes been described as a science there are still philosophers and mathematicians who have argued against this. This is because, according to them, you cannot verify mathematics through experiments or observations hence it cannot be a science. Some people believe that there is a close relationship between pure mathematics and natural sciences.

Science can be divided into the natural and the social. The social sciences deal with people and the societies they live in while the natural sciences study natural occurrences. If you consider Mathematics under the sciences, it can be placed under the formal sciences branch that studies formal systems. Sciences include biology, engineering, computer science, physics, chemistry, geology, microbiology, psychology and astronomy. Most if not all of these sciences apply mathematical concepts in one way or another. Mathematics has four major disciplines which include arithmetic, algebra, geometry and analysis.

Philosophers have differentiated mathematics and science on the basis of abstractions and empiricism. Mathematics deals with abstract entities and most of the abstractions are absolute truths. It is also possible to form new abstractions from existing ones. Science on the other hand is based on empiricism whereby experiences form the basis of the knowledge we have. Hence there are no absolute truths in science and what has been discovered can be revoked later which is rare in mathematics.

Although it deals with abstractions, Mathematics uses scientific methods. Applied mathematics for instance uses scientific approach to solve problems by applying the mathematical concepts. Sometimes it is hard to place mathematics as a science because it does not qualify the definition of the word science but in essence, it may be a science because of its ability to produce solutions to problems.

Both mathematics and science have similarities and differences but the fact remains that there is so much use of mathematics in science. Computer science borrows heavily from mathematics so are others like actuarial science. Mathematics is however more systematic as compared to science and is based on proofs. Mathematical claims are proved easily as is its nature of having absolute truths to most of its theorems.

When dealing with sciences in general, it is difficult to avoid any mathematics at all and vice versa. Hence, in a way, the two compliment each other. Mathematics cannot stand on its own without science and science has to rely on mathematics for some applications.