Comment by doubloon

well technically the word "math" is just greek for "learning" and foundation is something you build a building on top of.

https://www.etymonline.com/word/mathematics https://www.etymonline.com/word/foundation

this begs the question - why do you need to build a building on top of something? why cant you just build the building on the ground.

well its because of the Earth itself, it moves, its unstable, it has water in some places and not in others, sand in some places and not in others, and so forth. different climates and different needs.

now this makes me wonder, if you were not born on Earth, but on some place where buildings did not need foundations, would you ever wonder what the foundations of mathematics were?

and if you were on a planet where, say, music was considered the ultimate form of knowledge, rather than you know, high frequency trading algorithms or dark patterns to drive advertising engagement, would the connotation of math be entirely different and would the meaning of the word math have evolved differently?