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You could argue mathematics is part of the universe. Or maybe vise versa.
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So what word do we use instead? It is revealing truths about "reality"?
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> Mathematical proofs aren't revealing truths about the universe.

That's exactly what they do, apply logic formally and systematically to discover truths.

Sure, there may be a universe where 2 + 2 = 5, but then that universe would have its own mathematics that can prove that to be true. And there will be a way to bridge that alien math to our own, again by logic and proofs, until we have a larger sense of truths not only in our universe but all possible universes. Proofs are part of the constant process of revealing deeper truths to the best of our understanding.

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There is no logically possible universe where 2 + 2 = 5. It's definitionally false. OP's point is probably that math is a set of rules we invented, not something true about the universe.
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