  Many have wondered how mathematics, which appears to be the result of both
human creativity and human discovery, can possibly exhibit the degree of
success and seemingly-universal applicability to quantifying the physical world
as exemplified by the laws of physics. In this essay, I claim that much of the
utility of mathematics arises from our choice of description of the physical
world coupled with our desire to quantify it. This will be demonstrated in a
practical sense by considering one of the most fundamental concepts of
mathematics: additivity. This example will be used to show how many physical
laws can be derived as constraint equations enforcing relevant symmetries in a
sense that is far more fundamental than commonly appreciated.
