Science is a set of disciplines linked by the scientific method. It can be divided into formal, natural, and social sciences. Formal science includes computer science, mathematics, and statistics. Natural science includes biology, chemistry, geology, and physics. Social science includes anthropology, psychology, and sociology. Each category has many subdisciplines with specific research focuses.
Science is a large set of disciplines that contains many different areas that are all linked together by a single concept: the scientific method. The scientific method represents an investigative method based on observation, deduction, hypothesis and experimentation that can be applied to all areas of life. While there are many ways to look at science, one of the most common is to divide it into three broad categories, each of which contains numerous subdisciplines: formal sciences, natural sciences, and social sciences.
Formal science represents those disciplines that deal with theoretical symbols and ideas and their applications in the real world. Its inclusion as a science is often disputed, but some aspects of it are used in all other scientific disciplines. Formal science includes computer science, mathematics, and statistics.
Natural science is the science that people usually think of when they hear the term. Those who study it use the scientific method to understand nature and the physical world. The natural sciences and its subdisciplines are sometimes called “hard sciences” by their proponents and include biology, chemistry, geology, and physics.
Social science is the study of societies and the interactions within them, whether on a group or individual basis. It is sometimes referred to as a “soft science” by detractors. The social sciences include anthropology, psychology and sociology.
Each broad scientific category contains many disciplines and subdisciplines with specific research focuses. Some of these types of science for each category include the following:
Disciplines of formal science
Computing focuses on information processing in computers and other computing devices. Scientists develop new algorithms for processing data, improving computer programming languages, and working with many other aspects of computers and programs that modern societies deal with on a daily basis.
Mathematics is devoted to the representation and processing of quantities. While the mathematical expression “1 + 1 = 2” may seem simple, it is actually a complex concept full of semantics. Aspects of mathematics are used by all other kinds of science.
Statistics is the collection, analysis and interpretation of data. While it can be used to find patterns, disprove theories, and make predictions, the science of statistics itself is not focused on any individual idea of the real world. Instead, the theories and laws of statistics can be applied to any correctly formatted data. A Q-Test, for example, can be used on data gleaned from a chemistry, biology or psychology experiment.
Disciplines of the natural sciences
Biology is the scientific study of life. This can be very broad, like how different species may have evolved over millions of years, or it can be very specific, like what a specific animal eats. Biology has many subdisciplines including botany, entomology, and zoology.
Chemistry studies matter, its states and how it changes. What the individual components are made of, how they change when exposed to different temperatures, how they can be broken down and how they can be rebuilt are all questions that chemists often ask themselves and try to solve. Subdisciplines of chemistry include biochemistry, food chemistry, inorganic chemistry, and organic chemistry.
Physics is the study of matter, forces and interactions and can be studied on a very large or small scale. The study of how planets and other stellar bodies interact is an example of physics done on a very large scale, while the study of subatomic particles represents physics on a small scale. Astronomy, electrodynamics, thermodynamics and quantum mechanics are all subdisciplines of physics.
Disciplines of the social sciences
Anthropology is the study of the origins, development and uniqueness of human beings. It borrows from many other disciplines and includes the branches of archaeology, cultural anthropology and physical anthropology.
Psychology is the scientific study of thought and behavior. Understanding why people make the choices they do, how they deal with stress, and predicting what choices they will make in the future are all aspects of psychology. Analytical, behavioral, cognitive, and gestalt are all different schools of psychological thought and theory.
Sociology is the scientific study of groups of people. How these groups interact with each other, the rules of the groups (norms and laws), and how these groups are formed are all aspects that sociologists consider.
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