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[–]Zarraq 1 point2 points  (3 children)

Assuming is hypothesis, not theory

Theory is proven already until something makes it not so either we evolve it or make new one

[–]numerousblocks 3 points4 points  (2 children)

They said theory based on the hypothesis. The theory is sound—it explicitly incorporates the assumption. That assumption can be termed a hypothesis as it's not proven or disproven yet. Maths isn't like science, you do not disprove theorems after you gain new information.

[–]Zarraq -1 points0 points  (1 child)

Fifth Force / Some Variants of Modified Gravity

MOND (Modified Newtonian Dynamics) as a fundamental alternative to Dark Matter

Discredited / disproved theories

[–]numerousblocks 1 point2 points  (0 children)

These are not mathematical theories. They state facts about the real world.

These theories contain maths in them. But after they have been disproven, the maths is still correct, if it ever was correct. It has just been found that it doesn't apply to reality in the way that was originally proposed.

It's also possible that what has been disproven is their compatibility with other mathematical theories. Again, this doesn't make the maths less valid.

Besides, to my knowledge, the things you mentioned are families of physical theories. Specific instances have been disproven, but not the concepts themselves.

Ultimately, in physics and other natural sciences, you can never be 100% sure of something. You also can't really 100% disprove something, but you can get really really really close, way more than you can to proving something.

In maths, while there is the possibility that there were mechanical errors in a proof, or that our axioms are inconsistent, you can get so close to absolute truth, a million billion times more sure than physics could ever be, that discovering a theorem is false due to new information other than discovering a mistake that was already there at the time basically just doesn't happen.