I actually don&#x27;t think this is true.  Multiplication isn&#x27;t some natural phenomenon that humans just stumbled upon, like gravity or nuclear energy, even if it does help to explain some observable phenomena.  Multiplication is entirely a human idea -- it only exists in human brains.  Multiplication was only &quot;discovered&quot; in the same way love, or music, or any of the liberal arts were &quot;discovered&quot; -- which is to say, not at all.<p>I guess the straightforward counterargument here is that if multiplication only exists in humans&#x27; minds how can computers do it, but computers have absolutely zero autonomy -- a computer can&#x27;t compute a product, or even &quot;discover&quot; multiplication without receiving explicit intructions from a human to do so -- in my mind a computer can&#x27;t be deemed the one discovering multiplication if that discovery relied 100% on the design of human beings.