2004: Is math the language of reality?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Good morning. My name is Johann Freudenberg (PH) from Germany.

Mr. Munger, you said in a speech that scientific reality is often only revealed by math, as if math, it’s a language of God. Could you elaborate on that, and especially tell us the reason why math often reflects reality? Thank you.

CHARLIE MUNGER: It’s just the way it is. (Laughter)

If you — it’s as though God made the world so that only people fluent in math could understand it.

I think you can handle an ordinary human activity pretty well. But if you want to understand, say, science, you can’t do it without math. That’s just the way it is. And in business, if you’re innumerate, you’re going to be a klutz.

WARREN BUFFETT: Keep talking, I’m chewing. (Laughter) We’ll go back — go ahead.

CHARLIE MUNGER: The good thing about business is you don’t have to know any high math.

WARREN BUFFETT: It may be a disadvantage to know high math, Charlie.

CHARLIE MUNGER: Yes, I think it is. Because you look for opportunities to use this marvelous, complicated tool. And by and large, that doesn’t work nearly as well as just using the simple math.

WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. When my mother sang me songs about compound interest, there really wasn’t any need to go further. (Laughter)