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A scientific theory is a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world, based on a body of facts that have been repeatedly confirmed through observation and experiment. Such fact-supported theories are not "guesses" but reliable accounts of the real world. The theory of biological evolution is more than "just a theory".
Scientific laws or laws of science are statements, based on repeated experiments or observations, that describe or predict a range of natural phenomena. [1] The term law has diverse usage in many cases (approximate, accurate, broad, or narrow) across all fields of natural science (physics, chemistry, astronomy, geoscience, biology).
The hypothesis of Andreas Cellarius, showing the planetary motions in eccentric and epicyclical orbits. A hypothesis (pl.: hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. A scientific hypothesis must be based on observations and make a testable and reproducible prediction about reality, in a process beginning with an educated guess or ...
The dark forest hypothesis is a special case of the "sequential and incomplete information game" in game theory. [14] [9] [15] In game theory, a "sequential and incomplete information game" is one in which all players act in sequence, one after the other, and none are aware of all available information. [16]
[B] A theory or hypothesis is falsifiable if it can be logically contradicted by an empirical test. Popper emphasized the asymmetry created by the relation of a universal law with basic observation statements [C] and contrasted falsifiability to the intuitively similar concept of verifiability that was then current in logical positivism.
Since it is absurd to have no logical method for settling on one hypothesis amongst an infinite number of equally data-compliant hypotheses, we should choose the simplest theory: "Either science is irrational [in the way it judges theories and predictions probable] or the principle of simplicity is a fundamental synthetic a priori truth." [42]
The modern view is that the hypothesis of the inverse square relation was known before either Newton or Hooke came to be involved. Newton's work, by reasoning along multiple avenues and casting the relationship in mathematical terms converted this hypothesis into an inverse square law, in modern terms a scientific theory, and refined to the ...
Statistics subsequently branched out into various directions, including decision theory, Bayesian statistics, exploratory data analysis, robust statistics, and non-parametric statistics. Neyman-Pearson hypothesis testing made significant contributions to decision theory, which is widely employed, particularly in statistical quality control.