hypothesis
Sign in to savethumb|right|350px|The hypothesis of Andreas Cellarius, showing the planetary motions in eccentric and epicyclical [[orbits]]
AI overview
A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for something that hasn't been proven yet, which scientists test through observation and experimentation to see if it's true. It matters because hypotheses guide scientific investigation and help us organize our thinking before we gather evidence to determine what's actually happening in the world.
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Article
11 sectionsContents
- Uses
- Scientific hypothesis
- Working hypothesis
- Hypotheses, concepts and measurement
- Statistical hypothesis testing
- Honours
- List
- See also
- References
- Bibliography
- External links
thumb|right|350px|The hypothesis of Andreas Cellarius, showing the planetary motions in eccentric and epicyclical [[orbits]]
A hypothesis (: hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. A scientific hypothesis must be based on observations and make a testable and reproducible prediction about reality, in a process beginning with an educated guess. If a hypothesis is repeatedly independently demonstrated by experiment to be true, it becomes a scientific theory. In colloquial usage, the words hypothesis and theory are often used interchangeably, but this is incorrect in the context of science.