MATHEMATICS

Maths" and "Math" redirect here. For other uses see Mathematics (disambiguation) and Math (disambiguation).

Euclid, Greek mathematician, 3rd century BC, as imagined by Raphael in this detail from The School of Athens.^[1]

Mathematics (from Greek μάθημα máthēma "knowledge, study, learning") is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change.^[2][3] Mathematicians seek out patterns^[4][5] and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity. The research required to solve mathematical problems can take years or even centuries of sustained inquiry. However, mathematical proofs are less formal and painstaking than proofs in mathematical logic. Since the pioneering work of Giuseppe Peano, David Hilbert, and others on axiomatic systems in the late 19th century, it has become customary to view mathematical research as establishing truth by rigorous deduction from appropriately chosen axioms and definitions. When those mathematical structures are good models of real phenomena, then mathematical reasoning often provides insight or predictions.