Today, very often you can meet many incomprehensible term "formalization", and in various fields of science and technology. Those who want to expand the horizons of their knowledge, it is desirable to understand what formalization is. The article will examine the essence of this term and the practical application of the process.
What is a scientific formalization in the general sense?
We touch on a little scientific aspect. We will proceed from the fact that the word formalization comes from the word "formality", that is, it is a conditional, and sometimes even an abstract concept that allows us to explain the nature of a non-existent object or phenomenon and to predict its properties in a certain environment under given initial conditions.
The linguistics of any modern language absolutely does not coincide with the expression of logical forms or the nature of thinking. Thus, logic itself is forced to use certain abstract concepts to describe a particular phenomenon. And so the relative concept of the formality of what is happening appears.
As you can already guess, the essence of formalization is to describe or predetermine certain properties of an object or process (not even existing at the moment) and to predict its application in case of appearance in the real world. But this is a general idea. The very concept of formalization is much broader. To begin with, we will dwell on computer technology, consider how this concept is applied in the world of electronics.
Computer formalization
If we touch on the subject of computers, a formalization method of this type is rather a processing of the initial conditions that allow us to determine the further behavior of an object or process with a fairly high degree of accuracy.
Almost all weather services work on this principle. Having a computer model of a cyclone, it is possible to predict its cycle and power over land or over water.
Remember the film "The Day After Tomorrow," in which the scientist predicted global warming, based on just such a technique. He developed a computer model that made it possible to predict further events with a certain degree of probability.
These examples clearly explain what formalization is.
Principles of modeling objects and processes
The main methods of formalization are forecasting and modeling. Such technologies are used exclusively to obtain final data on objects or processes that are not known, but they can be assumed and calculated with high accuracy.
If you look at the types of formalization, almost all of them come down only to logical conclusions and calculations. It is not difficult for the reader to draw a parallel between computer modeling, proof of theorems, etc., based on axioms and postulates.
Look, after all, the same theory of relativity of Einstein can also be interpreted as a method of formalization, because in practice it is not possible to verify the proof. In particular, this concerns the constant of light propagation, time dilation at the threshold of its achievement, increase in the object’s gravitational mass, and curvature of space. Hands, as they say, you will not feel it and you will not see it with your eyes.
Once upon a time, these were only the bold conclusions of a scientist based on the simplest experiments. Today, all this is confirmed by official science based on the same computer modeling.
Formalization Stages
If we consider computer systems, the first step in the formalization is the description of the process. But the tools of the ordinary language (letters, words, phrases, sentences) are not used here. A specific mathematical model can only be created using a certain algorithm based on the selected programming language, but only after the statement of the general problem.
In other words, when modeling the behavior of an object or process, the essence of what is happening needs to be described by purely mathematical symbols, using a mathematical algorithm.
The result of formalization is to obtain an analysis of the actual predictable event that will follow after the technology being studied is put into practice or a certain natural process enters the stage of real manifestation.
The following is a conceptualization of the task. There are two options: in the first case, this is the definition of an approach in the form of the use of attributes and attributes; the second option involves the use of cognitive analysis, not to mention the statement of the problem, the collection of initially used data, conditions, etc.
After defining the concepts and initial conditions, we study the existing relationships between objects and processes, as well as the so-called semantic relationships, implying the use of a local presentation technique.
The following is the processing of the initial data based on the selected algorithm, after which a result is issued indicating the percentage of error. As a rule, it does not exceed 5%, and in most cases the probability result reaches 99%. Any person or machine still leaves a "margin of safety" for unforeseen circumstances, because absolutely everything is impossible to take into account.
Why is all this necessary?
If you look, these principles allow you to analyze the behavior of objects and processes. In other words, one can predict how this or that process will develop.
Now it’s clear what formalization is. Let's look at a simple example.
The application of formalization in practice, the simplest examples
Let's say some specialist has developed a new aircraft design. Given the high cost of the project, to build a model of its original size without a preliminary forecast of its behavior in air is a completely impractical task. Moreover, testing in the same wind tunnel of a Boeing-sized aircraft is an absolutely unrealistic task.
Formalization allows for predetermined characteristics of the future aircraft (air resistance, crosswind, altitude and parameters of the wind tunnel itself and other characteristics) to simulate a flight without building an airplane model.
Another example is the testing of new cars by automobile concerns. The main method of formalization in this case is that all of them pass a virtual test at first, and after receiving positive results, the prototypes are put into production for testing in real conditions.
Key Results
The result of mathematical modeling in many ways (if not one hundred percent, then with a probability of up to 95%) can be a weighty argument in favor of the release of modern technology, help to predict the weather, even predict social behavior as a reaction to events in the world.
Yes Yes! The formation of public opinion in the world is also subject to its own laws. It is enough to influence him in the right direction. Today, many programs have already been created to predict the reaction of society to an event. And these are far from all examples of formalization. If you dig deeper, we are faced with this every day.
One of the most striking examples of formalization is the discovery of the Higgs boson in the collision of elementary particles in the Large Hadron Collider. But before it was believed that the existence of this particle is pure theory, and it is absolutely not proved by real experiments.
Conclusion
As you can see, in the concept of formalization, despite the scientific complexity of the essence of the process, it is easy to understand by examples. In most cases, it boils down to the use of certain logical chains that predetermine the final result.