EINSTEINS CONCEPTION OF THE RELATION BETWEEN MATHEMATICS AND THE WORLD - (BASED ON THE SEARCH FOR THE GEOMETRY OF REAL-SPACE)

The author presents Einstein's viewpoint on the relation between mathe matics and the world. Mathematics, Einstein to suggest, cannot model t he structure of the world in an absolutely adequate way, since, if mat hematical theorems are certain, they do not apply to reality. However, from the fact that something cannot be done in an adequate way, it do es not follow that it cannot be done at all. Mathematics can and shoul d be applied to describe reality remembering than then its theorems ar e not certain. Mathematics is a formal science. To be able to state so mething about the world, it must be filled with real meaning, which fo r Einstein meant that mathematical assertions, after a suitable interp retation, must be linked through a network of experimental procedures with the world of nature. Einstein, it appears, applied these general suggestions to approach the problem of geometry of real space.