What is a Theory?
A theory is an explanation of something. It is typically an explanation of a class of phenomena, rather than a single specific event. Instead of explaining why there is a brown stain on my tie, a theory would explain why men’s ties often have brown stains. Theories are often expressed as chains of causality: this happens because this and that happened just when something else happened and this in turn happened because … you get the idea! Theories are sometimes confused with hypotheses, because both seem to consist of statements relating one variable to another. Well, it’s true that some theories are little more than hypotheses. But good theories are a bit different. Here are some of the differences: • theories are more general • theories explain why things are related, whereas hypotheses just say they are related • theories generate hypotheses; hypotheses are implicit in theories As discussed in the next section, one way that theories explain is by providing a sense of process or mec
From school mathematics you will recall various kinds of numbers: whole numbers, fractions, decimals, etc. You may also have met sets or vectors. These are all examples of mathematical objects. The first thing that TheoryMine does is create new kinds of mathematical object and it can generate an unlimited number of these. In school mathematics you apply functions to numbers, such as addition and subtraction. The second thing that TheoryMine does is create new kinds of functions on these new mathematical objects. TheoryMine can also generate an unlimited number of functions. A Theory is composed of one or more mathematical objects plus some functions on such mathematical objects.
