Empirical relationship as a stepping-stone to theory
arXiv:0810.0905
Abstract
We consider parsimonious construction of empirical equations, to promote interest in them as a stepping-stone model to the physical law. To this end, we provide a variety of historical examples and simulate a parsimonious empirical calculation of Planck law, and of van der Waals equation. Thereby we provide a) Empirical forms of Planck law, and b) Collation of verified symmetries and catastrophes-like properties of empirical P-T surface of real gases. An empirical equation of state for a real gas should take account of these properties.
By adding two pages of text and two references, we took account of editorial suggestions and emphasized the importance of parsimonious data fitting