@SeventhSense That is a good question, though I didn’t say that numbers don’t exist. Natural numbers come from abstraction from everyday objects. They are a representation of possible groups of things. Let’s say that there are two things that you believe are extant properties of the universe. Let’s say these properties are energy and mass. Humans use numbers to quantify things but the attribution of these numbers is arbitrary. Let’s say that we attribute certain numbers to mass, and certain numbers to energy. The relations that are inherent in our universe cause the square root of the energy contained in an atom divided by its mass to give us a number that is identical to the measured velocity of light when using the same units of measurement. From arbitrary designations and relations that we find between them, we get interesting numbers that if under different circumstances would be different even though their relations remain the same. A puzzling circumstance is when the outcome of relations is unit-less like pi. Pi and other recurrent ratios make it hard to deny platonic forms of numbers. If we never invented numbers the distance of a circle’s circumference would still have the same relation to the radius. I tend to think of numbers as pure abstraction from real objects, but once that abstraction has been made logic can extrapolate the interactions of these abstractions.
I wish there were a more definite way to understand numbers and why they are so effective. I do thank you for asking that question as it definitely got me really thinking.
@Dilettante True, I’m not sure how to say this but I don’t think the numbers we get like pi or the speed of light are anything but the consequence of relations and arbitrary assignment of values. Pi is a ratio of the circumference of a circle to its radius. The measurements of the circle or its radius are arbitrary (provided you use the same methods to measure them), the same thing will result. The speed of light is the relation of energy to mass. Its actual numerical value is irrelevant, only its relation to mass and energy is what make the world how it is.