Hypothesis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A hypothesis is something that can explain a event. It can propose or suggest how two events relate to each other. The term comes from the Greek, hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose." The scientific method requires that a scientific hypothesis can be tested. Scientists sometimes create hypotheses on events that have been seen before or on extensions of scientific theories.
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[change] Usage
At first, educated people often referred to an idea or to an approach to math that made hard math easier as a hypothesis; when used this way, the word did not necessarily have any specific meaning. Cardinal Bellarmine gave a well known example of the older sense of the word in the warning issued to Galileo in the early 17th century: that he must not treat the motion of the Earth as a reality, but merely as a hypothesis.
In common usage in the 21st century, a hypothesis refers to a idea that needs to be tested. A hypothesis needs more work by the researcher in order to check it. A tested hypothesis that works, may become part of a theory or become a theory itself. Normally, scientific hypotheses have the form of a mathematical model.
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[change] References
- Schick, Theodore and Vaughn, Lewis: How to think about weird things: Critical thinking for a New Age Boston, 2002
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