Sample of both

• Fact: 1+1=2
• Truth: 2=1+1
• Fact: Boiling water is hot
• [My] Truth: God exists

Photo by Ivan Bertolazzifrom Pexels

Fact and truth

This question got prompted by a podcast I was listening to, where the speaker said at one point: “Numbers don’t lie”. Which lead me to question: is that really true? Or is that a fact?

Now mind you: I’m a mathematician so that statement right there would [or should] be music to my ears. Right? Wrong. Because as you can see above: truth is 2=1+1 but the truth is also 2=1*0+0+1*2. 

My head tailspins on that example, which I actually gotten here. It also stated somewhere in that same page that we look inside ourselves to find truths (chocolate is delicious!) and outside for facts (earth orbits the sun). However, this is yet another example of why truth and fact are not one and the same: my truth is that Chocolate is not really delicious. You’d find me more around the Lumpia is delicious but that’s a whole other post cus once I start on food… 🙂

There are numerous articles out there indicating what both truth and facts are. Going back to “Numbers do not lie” I conclude that this is a truth and not a fact. Look at an annual statement of a company versus what’s on the bank account at the moment of the annual statement. 

Thought this picture represented the “Numbers don’t lie” pretty convincingly. You can look it up here amidst other examples.

If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts —
Albert Einstein 
Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please —
Mark Twain
There are no facts, only interpretations —
Nietzsche

What is your take on fact and truth? Do you have more examples to dazzle us with? Leave your comments below!