Pythagoras's theory

Just wondering why this is a theory and not a law, in my eyes implying that it hasn't been proved. I proved it quite a few times at school (well, my maths teacher always gave me ticks for my answers)

Someone got something against him?

There must be a simple explanation.

Isn't everything in physics a theory.

The premise being that in all these test cases X is expected to happend and indeed does.

At some future date when X is predicted Y may occur therefore disproving the theory. At which point an amended theory or a completely new one will supersede it.

[the_lone_wolf]

Kinvig is essentially correct...

to shamelessly quote from Wikipedia because i'm late for work:

In scientific usage, a theory does not mean an unsubstantiated guess or hunch, as it can in everyday speech. A theory is a logically self-consistent model or framework for describing the behavior of a related set of natural or social phenomena. It originates from and/or is supported by experimental evidence (see scientific method). In this sense, a theory is a systematic and formalized expression of all previous observations that is predictive, logical and testable. In principle, scientific theories are always tentative, and subject to corrections or inclusion in a yet wider theory. Commonly, a large number of more specific hypotheses may be logically bound together by just one or two theories. As a general rule for use of the term, theories tend to deal with much broader sets of universals than do hypotheses, which ordinarily deal with much more specific sets of phenomena or specific applications of a theory.

in essence, scientific theory is fact, it's the best model that explains the way a natural phenomenon works, but it might not work in some circumstances (eg: newtonian motion works great until you're moving close to the speed of light, then you need relativity to explain what happens)

I proved it quite a few times at school (well, my maths teacher always gave me ticks for my answers)

my teacher fancied me, she was always putting x's on my homework

[Viney]

ooo, is that what the means.

Because it's a theorem , not a theory.

So it is proven.

you folks have waaaayyyyyy too much time on your hands......... lol.

Originally Posted by Captain Nemo

you folks have waaaayyyyyy too much time on your hands......... lol.

sez you, who has already read this far

As Mac99 said, it is a theorem as opposed to a theory. It's a theorem as opposed to a law because, like all things with maths, it looks complex but has no practical purpose (unless you are a maths teacher).

[northwind]

Originally Posted by Moffatt666

As Mac99 said, it is a theorem as opposed to a theory. It's a theorem as opposed to a law because, like all things with maths, it looks complex but has no practical purpose (unless you are a maths teacher).

Pythagoras and trigonometry are dead useful, not in everyday life but handy if you're building angular shelves, or figuring how long a set of bike dogbones should be, stuff like that.