Science per Yours Sincerely

Sir Isaac Newton's scientific rules are too abstract to most people, who typically get to see or work on only snippets of a subject matter. Even Newton's laws of motion are found wanting at extreme scales, speeds or gravities.

Alternatively, it is useful to think science as a progression from description to ascription (explanation) to prescription (prediction). Each of the stages in turn advances from being qualitative to being quantitative. For quantitative prediction, the highest stage, four basic questions must be addressed:

Of cause—What are the causal factors (of the phenomenon under inquiry)?

Of function—In what way does each of the factors contribute?

Of quantity—How much does each contribute?

Of consequence—What is the integrated net effect of all the factors?

One can judge how far along the science of a particular subject matter is by checking it against those questions.