数学上，数学基础一词有时候用于数学的特定领域，例如数理逻辑，公理化集合论，证明论，模型论，和递归论。但是寻求数学的基础也是数学哲学的中心问题：在什幺终极基础上命题可以称为真?

目前占统治地位的数学范式是基于公理化集合论和形式逻辑的。实际上，几乎所有现在的数学定理都可以表述为集合论下的定理。在这个观点下，所谓数学命题的真实性，不过就是该命题可以从集合论公理使用形式逻辑推导出来。

这个形式化的方法不能解释一些问题：为什幺我们应沿用现行的公理而不是别的，为什幺我们应沿用现行的逻辑规则而不是别的，为什幺"真"数学命题（例如，算术领域的皮亚诺公理）在物理世界中似乎是真的。这被尤金·维格纳在1960年叫做“数学在自然科学中无理由的有效性”（The unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in the natural sciences）。

Foundations of mathematics is the study of the logical and philosophical basis of mathematics, or, in a broader sense, the mathematical investigation of what underlies the philosophical theories concerning the nature of mathematics. In this latter sense, the distinction between foundations of mathematics and philosophy of mathematics turns out to be quite vague. Foundations of mathematics can be conceived as the study of the basic mathematical concepts (number, geometrical figure, set, function, etc.) and how they form hierarchies of more complex structures and concepts, especially the fundamentally important structures that form the language of mathematics (formulas, theories and their models giving a meaning to formulas, definitions, proofs, algorithms, etc.) also called metamathematical concepts, with an eye to the philosophical aspects and the unity of mathematics. The search for foundations of mathematics is a central question of the philosophy of mathematics; the abstract nature of mathematical objects presents special philosophical challenges.