• Question: How can you use math to prove any scientific theories?

    Asked by naz01 to Jonny on 21 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Jonny Brooks-Bartlett

      Jonny Brooks-Bartlett answered on 21 Jun 2015:


      We use maths to make predictions to prove what we think is real.

      For example we know that when things fall they speed up as they fall and they hit the ground with a certain force. The heavier the object, the greater the force that it hits the ground. The equation we use is force = mass x acceleration.
      Now that we have an equation, we can say what force we would expect if we dropped something that is 10 grams know that the acceleration due to gravity is 9.81 metres per second.

      So we use maths to explain what we see. To prove a scientific theory we have to make a prediction using the maths and then perform the experiment to test if our prediction was correct.

      I hope that makes sense.

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