If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a noise? For UC Davis philosopher Elaine Landry, this thought experiment is one way to think about what mathematicians and physicists assume is real when they solve problems.

Some, she said, believe that numbers, vectors and other abstract objects in mathematics are real in the sense that they really do exist out in the world. Others claim that these so-called objects are just ideas and don’t really exist at all.