The use of mathematics in economics can be already found one century ago. S
ince then, the debates about the contributions of mathematics to the scienc
e of economy have been very usual. This debate has fostered the publication
of many papers and books on economy in which mathematics play a central ro
le. Mathematics helps economy in several ways: makes the assumptions more e
xplicit, theories are more precise, and permits the economists to evaluate
multidimensional facts. The utility of mathematics in economy is well prove
d, helping the economist to simplify, clarify and verify the theories, as w
ell as model building and data analysis. Now days, computers combined with
powerful statistic techniques allow the economist to analyze data that were
unthinkable just a few years ago. Some economists in favor of using mathem
atics in economy argue that a truly scientific economical science only will
be possible when mathematical and statistical tools will be used regularly
to analyze the economical data. The classical position against this rigoro
us view is that economy, as the rest of social sciences, never will be able
to strictly use scientific tools, such as mathematics and statistics. Thes
e positions are analyzed in the paper, and pros and cons discussed.