Katie MackMar 3, 2023

‘The most common response I get when I talk about dark matter is: “isn’t this just something physicists made up to make the math work out?”
The answer to that might surprise you: yes! In fact, everything in physics is made up to make the math work out.’

My latest for BBC Science Focus:

https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/everything-physics-made-up/

Yes, everything in physics is completely made up – that’s the whole point

A physicist's task is to constantly create equations that keep up with our observations of physical phenomena.

BBC Science Focus Magazine
Show threadColin Rosenthal
@AstroKatie I don’t find this a useful way to think about it. The maths always works out, if it’s based on consistent axioms. That’s just as true for incorrect theories as for correct ones. A good theory is explanatory and predictive (and _correctly_ predictive of course). Not all scientific theories are mathematical either (evolution wasn’t, at least initially).
Mar 4, 2023 at 8:01amWeb
Show threadclacke: exhausted pixie dream boy 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛Mar 4, 2023
@gorhendad_oldbuck The full context of 'to make the math work out' is 'to make the mathematical models work out with the observations'.

Any sound mathematical model or system obviously works out with itself.