Mathematics: The Language of Science (by W.T. “Tom” Bridgman)


I have occasional e-mails, usually from supporters of some pseudoscience I have challenged on these pages, claiming that presenting the mathematical details on my web sites makes them “too complex” and that I should express the science in ‘simpler terms’ without the mathematics.The language of science is mathematics.

This is a concept that links back to Galileo (QuoteDB) and is the reason why technology works, because the physical world obeys regular mathematical rules independent of any human belief system.  Scientific concepts are interconnected by the rules of mathematics.  Much has been written about why nature seems to work so well with these techniques (one of the most famous papers on this topic being  “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences” by Eugene Wigner.  But all mathematics does not make valid science…

Click Here to Read the Complete Original Entry on Dealing With Creationism in Astronomy

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About Troythulu

I seek to learn through this site and others how to better my ability as a person and my skill at using my reason and understanding to best effect. I do fractal artwork as a hobby, and I'm working to develop it to professional levels, though I've a bit to go till I reach that degree of skill! This is a crazy world we're in, but maybe I can do a little, if only that, to make it a bit more sane than it otherwise would be.

Posted on Friday, 6:18, October 29, 2010, in Sceplinks and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.

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