Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Mathematical laws are either uncertain in reality or certain but irrelevant to reality.
In plain terms
Math doesn't perfectly match reality, or it doesn't apply to it.
What can you take from it?
Math is a tool but not a perfect mirror of reality.

Where it applies

  • scientific modeling
  • philosophy
  • education

Putting it to work

  • use math cautiously
  • test models against data

Questions to consider

  • Can math describe reality perfectly?
  • What limits science?

Another view

Math often predicts reality better than this suggests.

More from Albert Einstein

  1. One reason why mathematics enjoys special esteem, above all other sciences, is that its laws are absolutely certain and indisputable, while those of other scie…

    Permalink to quote #160
  2. The bigotry of the nonbeliever is for me nearly as funny as the bigotry of the believer.

    Permalink to quote #162
  3. How can it be that mathematics, being after all a product of human thought which is independent of experience, is so admirably appropriate to the objects of re…

    Permalink to quote #159

Related quotes

  1. I don't believe in mathematics.

    Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein quote #190
  2. Reality contains not only evidence, but also the means (such as our minds, and our artefacts) of understanding it. There are mathematical symbols in physical r…

    David DeutschDavid Deutsch quote #6
  3. Mathematical knowledge may, just like our scientific knowledge, be deep and broad, it may be subtle and wonderfully explanatory, it may be uncontroversially ac…

    David DeutschDavid Deutsch quote #12