Exact sciences

<p>The exact sciences or quantitative sciences, sometimes called the exact mathematical sciences, are those sciences "which admit of absolute precision in their results"; especially the <a href="/facts/Mathematical_sciences/bLweGlQp">mathematical sciences</a>.   Examples of the exact sciences are mathematics, <a href="/facts/Optics/p0vq4S1T">optics</a>, <a href="/facts/Astronomy/0ArJVM1p">astronomy</a>, and <a href="/facts/Physics/a7aH2y08">physics</a>, which many philosophers from <a href="/facts/Descartes/ohqj6DMf">Descartes</a>, <a href="/facts/Leibniz/cTc2er83">Leibniz</a>, and <a href="/facts/Kant/vIxjdy6I">Kant</a> to the <a href="/facts/Logical_positivism/Dc6XMTsc">logical positivists</a> took as paradigms of rational and <a href="/facts/Objectivity_(philosophy)/nbUpe5Bp">objective knowledge</a>.  These sciences have been practiced in many cultures from antiquity to modern times.   Given their ties to mathematics, the exact sciences are characterized by accurate <a href="/facts/Quantitative_research/C1t5h075">quantitative</a> expression, precise predictions and/or <a href="/facts/Rigour/v23FKfhw">rigorous</a> methods of testing <a href="/facts/Hypothesis/gMABEJul">hypotheses</a> involving quantifiable <a href="/facts/Prediction/0w4XXB33">predictions</a> and <a href="/facts/Measurement/rsLLbn1s">measurements</a>.
</p><p>The distinction between the quantitative exact sciences and those sciences that deal with the causes of things is due to <a href="/facts/Aristotle/U2bDlBFW">Aristotle</a>, who distinguished mathematics from <a href="/facts/Natural_philosophy/CUAsDWdk">natural philosophy</a> and considered the exact sciences to be the "more natural of the branches of mathematics."  <a href="/facts/Thomas_Aquinas/h2vN2VkX">Thomas Aquinas</a> employed this distinction when he said that astronomy explains the <a href="/facts/Figure_of_the_Earth/z1LvpVgd">spherical shape of the Earth</a> by mathematical reasoning while physics explains it by <a href="/facts/Material_cause/zvJjs6Hq">material causes</a>.  This distinction was widely, but not universally, accepted until the <a href="/facts/Scientific_revolution/KdeJepMq">scientific revolution</a> of the 17th century.  <a href="/facts/Edward_Grant/skT8xPud">Edward Grant</a> has proposed that a fundamental change leading to the new sciences was the unification of the exact sciences and physics by <a href="/facts/Kepler/wk6GTN3C">Kepler</a>, <a href="/facts/Isaac_Newton/4L7gTncN">Newton</a>, and others, which resulted in a quantitative investigation of the physical causes of natural phenomena.
</p>

Exact sciences open-in-new

Exact sciences