Mathematics clearly plays an important role in scientific explanation. Debate continues, however, over the kind of role that mathematics plays. I argue that if pure mathematical explananda and physical explananda are unified under a common explanation within science, then we have good reason to believe that mathematics is explanatory in its own right. The argument motivates the search for a new kind of scientific case study, a case in which pure mathematical facts and physical facts are explanatorily unified. I argue that it is possible for there to be such cases, and provide some toy examples to demonstrate this. I then identify a potential source of scientific case studies as a guide for future work.

数学显然在科学解释中起着重要作用。然而，关于数学扮演的角色的争论仍在继续。我认为，如果纯数学解释和物理解释在科学界共同解释下是统一的，那么我们就有充分理由相信数学本身就是解释性的。该论点促使人们寻求一种新型的科学案例研究，在该案例中，纯粹的数学事实和物理事实被解释性地统一起来。我认为可能有这种情况，并提供一些玩具示例来证明这一点。然后，我确定了科学案例研究的潜在来源，可以作为未来工作的指南。