Monday, January 26, 2015

Strict Theory vs Just a Theory

Bill Nye's, the science guy, book,UNDENIABLE, addresses the evidence supporting evolution as a theory.

Theists despise Secular Humanism (aka France).

Some theists realize that the Big Bang is compatible with the concept of our world having a beginning.

My former father-in-law is/was such a theist.

The youth pastor at our in Florida church referred to evolution as "just a theory" in a sermon at our church in 2006.  I feel that referring to General Relativity and Quantum Electrodynamics as "just theories" is approximately equivalent to saying that Christianity is "just a Myth".

The best description of the proper role of theory that I have encountered is in William Feller's two volume work on Probability.  Copyrights should be outlawed for policy statements (e.g. General Petraeus would not state strategy in "his own words") and good technical writing.  Any changes from the "best version" degrades the communication and the concept.

Footnote on page 3 of Volume II of "An Introduction to Probability Theory and its Applications," William Feller.


The roles of rigor and intuition are subject to misconceptions.  As was pointed out in volume I, natural intuition and natural thinking are a poor affair, but they gain strength with the development of mathematical theory.  Today's intuition and applications depend on the most sophisticated theories of yesterday.  Furthermore, strict theory represents economy of thought rather than luxury.  Indeed, experience shows that in applications most people rely on lengthy calculations rather than simple arguments because these appear risky.  [The nearest illustration is in example 5(a).]

In volume I, Feller (page 4) states, "It must be understood, however, that we are concerned not with modes of inductive reasoning but with something that might be called physical or statistical probability.  In a rough way we may characterize this concept by saying that our probabilities do not refer to judgments but to possible outcomes of a conceptual experiment.  Before we speak of probabilities, we must agree on an idealized model of a particular conceptual experiment such as tossing a coin, sampling kangaroos on the moon, observing a particle under diffusion, counting the number of telephone calls.  At the outset we must agree on the possible outcomes of this experiment (our sample space) and the probabilities associated with them.....

In physics and chemistry, the ideal gas law represents economy of thought and includes mathematical rigor.  Economy of thought and minimal data are used to show that the Patriots nor Tom Brady were caught cheating in #DeflateGate.

The mathematical formula is PV=nRT.

The data needed for a baseline calculation consists of the following:

Atmospheric pressure = 14.7 lbs/in**2

Temperature at deflation observation = 51

Temperature at "room temperature/inspection":  72

Pressure requirement at inspection:  13.5 to 12.5 lbs/in**2

Tom Brady made it clear in his 1 hour interview on the topic that he prefers the lower part of the range.

To use the equation, T must be with respect to absolute zero.  The Rankine temperature is measured in Fahrenheit degrees.   T = Tf + 459.67

Pressure P is equal to Gauge pressure + Atmospheric pressure 

Evolution may or may not be "just a theory" but the Big Bang, General Relativity, QED, and the ideal gas law are strict theories.

With the above data, the gauge pressure at the beginning of the second half (51 degrees F), should be 11.43 lbs/in**2.
 

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