Before the Newtonian phase of philosophy, when natural philosophy was segregated from ordinary philosophical ventures for its commitment to repeated experimentation and scepticism, which would later be called the scientific way of knowing, there was an abstruse language. Unlike its well-known counterparts, this was extremely difficult to communicate and required well-defined logical reasoning to understand or expand. Essentially the worst kind of language, even millennia after its origin, it continues to haunt people by the name of mathematics.
Mathematics, as a language, starts with well-defined axioms. The most visible of them is in geometry, with the definitions of a point and a line. But such esoteric definitions continue all across mathematics. They do serve a great purpose, though, building one abstract concept over another because only when the idea of points well learn is it became easy to build that there can be another abstract concept of line, which passes through two points, and so on for the existence of plane. Also, the rigidity in its definition prevents any level of uncertainty from creeping in. If there is any uncertainty in mathematics, it is captured in variables whose values are determined in the future. They convey the ideas of time and progression yet always allow certainty into the vocabulary. That may be why it is cursed to remain the worst language of communication.
However, mathematics is the most extraordinary language they can ask for science. Mathematics is an incorruptible language with no room for interpretation and the sacrosanct nature of its morphemes. To capture the abstract concepts of physics in a well-contained vessel of equations. That is perhaps why the concepts in mathematics well precede their origins in mathematics. Let's look at the famous Zeno's paradox.
Zeno’s paradox may be rephrased as follows. Suppose I wish to cross the room. First, of course, I must cover half the distance. Then, I must cover half the remaining distance. Then, I must cover half the remaining distance. Then I must cover half the remaining distance…and so on forever. The consequence is that I can never get to the other side of the room and that no matter how fast or far ago, there is always half that number.
The solution to this paradox becomes imperative when we look at the scientific definition of infinitesimal splitting; we would reach something called quantum limit, where the occurrence becomes probabilistic, and further splitting loses physical meaning. This shows that the logic of the language mathematics foretells the conceptual/practical laws to avoid an essential paradox arising from its definition. Therefore, we need to appreciate the linguistics of mathematics
as the mother of all sciences. Indeed an awe-inspiring language.
as the mother of all sciences. Indeed an awe-inspiring language.