Quote:
Originally Posted by Herra1  Hello You all.
I have a question which is somehow connected to OUR cause.
How can You prove anything.
Or to put the question other way. What, or which things are PROVEN ? |
I'll just throw in my view here.
The way I see it, there are two kinds of proof: scientific, and mathematical.
Mathematic proof means you begin with some axioms -- statements that you never question, and you always assume that these axioms are always true for ever and ever without a shadow of a doubt, but you intellectually know that axioms are just ideas and may or may not be true in real life. Then, you pose a question, and try to determine the answer to that question by using logic and the axioms. The "proved" idea is called a theorem, and is true beyond a shadow of a doubt, but assumes that the axioms are always true, even if they are not.
Scientific proof is not entirely like mathematic proof. Sometime it is, like in theoretical physics. In physics, we create axioms that describe what we see in the natural universe. We write down what we see in the universe by using the language of mathematics -- axioms are called "physical laws". Then we try to figure out new things about the universe using the axioms and logic, just like in mathematic proof.
However, scientific proof is different because it assumes that the axioms are correct for every observer in the universe. In science, the axiom is called a "physical law" or a "mathematic model" for a physical observation. If one observer can show that the observation is incorrect, then the theory is declared "inaccurate" and we scramble to discover why our theories are inaccurate, which is fun because it leads to new scientific discovery. In this case, one can "disprove" a scientific theory by creating an experimentat that shows the old theory is inaccurate.
The biggest difference between science and math proofs is that the axioms of mathematics don't need to relate to anything in the natural universe -- you could make up a math language and prove things in it for fun if you wanted to. However in other sciences like physics, axioms must relate to an observation in the natural universe. Scientific theories are
disproven only with counter examples.
And to prove things using scientific experimentation, you first develop a hypothesis -- write down what you think will happen using math. For example, lets say you write a formula to predict the behavior of sand in an hourglass. You write the hypothesis as a formula in the language of math. Then you observe sand falling through an hourglass and take measurements -- this is called the experiment. If the measurements observed from the hourglass match up with the measurements that were predicted with your formula, then your hypothesis is "proved" and is then called a "theory". If someone shows you that your predictions are wrong with the an identical hourglass, or they write a better mathematic formula that predicts the sand more accurately, then they can say that your theory is "disproved".
But even when a scientific theory is disproved, it can still be useful. Einstein proved that Newtonian physics was inaccurate at speed close to light-speed, or in high gravity situations (like near black holes). However, in ordinary every-day situations, Newtonian physics is still so accurate that it is considered to be "truth", which is why it is still taught in schools. That and I don't think high-school kids could understand Einsteinian physics.