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An axiom, postulate, or assumption is a statement that is taken to be true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments. The word comes from the Ancient Greek word ἀξίωμα (axíōma), meaning 'that which is thought worthy or fit' or 'that which commends itself as evident'.
A first principle is an axiom that cannot be deduced from any other within that system. The classic example is that of Euclid's Elements; its hundreds of geometric propositions can be deduced from a set of definitions, postulates, and primitive notions: all three types constitute first principles.
This method resembles the modern axiomatic method but with a big philosophical difference: axioms and postulates were supposed to be true, being either self-evident or resulting from experiments, while no other truth than the correctness of the proof is involved in the axiomatic method. So, for Aristotle, a proved theorem is true, while in the ...
The new axiom is Lobachevsky's parallel postulate (also known as the characteristic postulate of hyperbolic geometry): [75] Through a point not on a given line there exists (in the plane determined by this point and line) at least two lines which do not meet the given line. With this addition, the axiom system is now complete.
Many alternative axioms can be formulated which are logically equivalent to the parallel postulate (in the context of the other axioms). For example, Playfair's axiom states: In a plane, through a point not on a given straight line, at most one line can be drawn that never meets the given line.
An axiomatic system is said to be consistent if it lacks contradiction.That is, it is impossible to derive both a statement and its negation from the system's axioms. Consistency is a key requirement for most axiomatic systems, as the presence of contradiction would allow any statement to be proven (principle of explo
Rather than depend on provability of these axioms, science depends on the fact that they have not been objectively falsified. Occam's razor and parsimony support, but do not prove, these axioms of science. The general principle of science is that theories (or models) of natural law must be consistent with repeatable experimental observations.
This is a list of axioms as that term is understood in mathematics. In epistemology , the word axiom is understood differently; see axiom and self-evidence . Individual axioms are almost always part of a larger axiomatic system .