Quote:
Originally posted by skipdup
 Did you read what you wrote? This is my point exactly, and one I've argued with you in the past. They produce the results they expect.
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Let me give you an example. I'm sure that we don't know everything there is to know about material behaviors, fracture mechanics, fatigue etc., but we have developed theories over the years based on experimentation and observed results, etc. It's not an exact science and minor points are debated here and there. I implement these theories every day, though, to design hardware that will behave the way I *expect* if I have utilized the theories correctly. In fact, I depend on utilizing these theories to ensure that things come out like I expect. People's lives depend on it.
Biologists use the premises of the theory of evolution in this way every day to achieve the results they expect if the theory is correct.
Would you want the designers of bridges to throw out stress and strain theory and just build whatever they think looks good because it's just a theory?
Mike