---
title: "Branches of science"
chunk: 1/3
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branches_of_science"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:23:44.694631+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

The branches of science, also referred to as sciences, scientific fields or scientific disciplines, are commonly divided into three major groups:

Formal sciences: the study of formal systems, such as those under the branches of logic and mathematics, which use an a priori, as opposed to empirical, methodology. They study abstract structures described by formal systems.
Natural sciences: the study of natural phenomena (including cosmological, geological, physical, chemical, and biological factors of the universe). Natural science can be divided into two main branches: physical science and life science.
Social sciences: the study of human behavior in its social and cultural aspects.
Scientific knowledge must be grounded in observable phenomena and must be capable of being verified by other researchers working under the same conditions.
Natural, social, and formal science make up the basic sciences, which form the basis of interdisciplinarity - and applied sciences such as engineering and medicine. Specialized scientific disciplines that exist in multiple categories may include parts of other scientific disciplines but often possess their own terminologies and expertises.

== Formal sciences ==

The formal sciences are the branches of science that are concerned with formal systems, such as logic, mathematics, theoretical computer science, information theory, systems theory, decision theory, statistics.
Unlike other branches, the formal sciences are not concerned with the validity of theories based on observations in the real world (empirical knowledge), but rather with the properties of formal systems based on definitions and rules.  Hence there is disagreement on whether the formal sciences actually constitute as a science.  Methods of the formal sciences are, however, essential to the construction and testing of scientific models dealing with observable reality, and major advances in formal sciences have often enabled major advances in the empirical sciences.

=== Logic ===
 

Logic (from Greek: λογική, logikḗ, 'possessed of reason, intellectual, dialectical, argumentative') is the systematic study of valid rules of inference, i.e. the relations that lead to the acceptance of one proposition (the conclusion) on the basis of a set of other propositions (premises). More broadly, logic is the analysis and appraisal of arguments.
It has traditionally included the classification of arguments; the systematic exposition of the logical forms; the validity and soundness of deductive reasoning; the strength of inductive reasoning; the study of formal proofs and inference (including paradoxes and fallacies); and the study of syntax and semantics.
Historically, logic has been studied in philosophy (since ancient times) and mathematics (since the mid-19th century).  More recently, logic has been studied in cognitive science, which draws on computer science, linguistics, philosophy and psychology, among other disciplines.

=== Information science ===
Information science is an academic field which is primarily concerned with analysis, collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval, movement, dissemination, and protection of information. Practitioners within and outside the field study the application and the usage of knowledge in organizations in addition to the interaction between people, organizations, and any existing information systems with the aim of creating, replacing, improving, or understanding the information systems.

=== Mathematics ===

Mathematics, in the broadest sense, is just a synonym of formal science; but traditionally mathematics means more specifically the coalition of four areas: arithmetic.

=== Statistics ===

Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments.
A statistician is someone who is particularly well versed in the ways of thinking necessary for the successful application of statistical analysis. Such people have often gained this experience through working in any of a wide number of fields. There is also a discipline called mathematical statistics, which is concerned with the theoretical basis of the subject.
The word statistics, when referring to the scientific discipline, is singular, as in "Statistics is an art." This should not be confused with the word statistic, referring to a quantity (such as mean or median) calculated from a set of data, whose plural is statistics ("this statistic seems wrong" or "these statistics are misleading").

=== Systems theory ===

Systems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems in general, to elucidate principles that can be applied to all types of systems in all fields of research. The term does not yet have a well-established, precise meaning, but systems theory can reasonably be considered a specialization of systems thinking and a generalization of systems science. The term originates from Bertalanffy's General System Theory (GST) and is used in later efforts in other fields, such as the action theory of Talcott Parsons and the sociological autopoiesis of Niklas Luhmann.
In this context the word systems is used to refer specifically to self-regulating systems, i.e. that are self-correcting through feedback. Self-regulating systems are found in nature, including the physiological systems of the human body, in local and global ecosystems, and climate.

=== Decision theory ===

Decision theory (or the theory of choice not to be confused with choice theory) is the study of an agent's choices. Decision theory can be broken into two branches: normative decision theory, which analyzes the outcomes of decisions or determines the optimal decisions given constraints and assumptions, and descriptive decision theory, which analyzes how agents actually make the decisions they do.
Decision theory is closely related to the field of game theory and is an interdisciplinary topic, studied by economists, statisticians, psychologists, biologists, political and other social scientists, philosophers, and computer.
Empirical applications of this rich theory are usually done with the help of statistical and econometric methods.

=== Theoretical computer science ===

Theoretical computer science (TCS) is a subset of general computer science and mathematics that focuses on more mathematical topics of computing, and includes the theory of computation.
It is difficult to circumscribe the theoretical areas precisely. The ACM's (Association for Computing Theory) Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory (SIGACT) provides the following description: