The Floor

Every theory the sciences and mathematics actually run on, joined by what it rests on, what limits it, and what shares its form. One body, so you can walk from any theory to the ones holding it up. Drawn rather than listed, because a list cannot show you what is missing — you would have to already know.

The same floor, read the other way, is The Floor of Discovery — Scripture and the created order as one design. That page is for seeing it; this one is for walking it.

Where the floor is missing

A lattice, because a lattice has sites that can be empty. Eight dimensions down, the catalogue's sections across; each site asks what a section contributes to a dimension, and a dashed red cell is that question with nothing on the shelf to answer it. An empty site is a question, not automatically a gap — some combinations need not exist — but a whole row of them is a thin place worth walking to.

How well each theory is joined

The same 217, arranged by how many relations each holds — most aligned at the centre, spiralling out at the golden angle. Distance from the middle is how peripheral a theory is to the assembled floor. Zoom in, turn it to another angle, and click any cell for its card. Changing the angle changes the question the picture is answering: by depth the centre is what we actually know most about, by calibration the sealable core separates from the map-only rim.

most aligned least aligned Kolmogorov probability axioms General relativity Second law of thermodynamics (entropy) Euclidean geometry & the parallel postulate Quantum mechanics (Schrödinger equation) Conservation of energy (1st law of thermodynamics) Shannon information theory (entropy, channel capacity) Acoustic wave theory (harmonics, Doppler) Game theory (Nash equilibrium) Hermeneutics (the theory of interpretation) Maxwell's equations / classical electromagnetism The electromagnetic spectrum & modulation (radio to gamma, one axis) Celestial mechanics / ephemeris prediction Chemical kinetics & equilibrium (Arrhenius, Le Chatelier) Cryptographic security (hashing, checksums, PKI) Fourier analysis & signal processing Linear algebra (vector spaces, eigenvalues) Newton's three laws of motion Standard Model / quantum field theory Wave optics (Huygens, Snell's law, diffraction) Bayes' theorem Bohr / quantum model of the atom Cell theory Central limit theorem Chemical bonding (valence-bond / molecular-orbital) Church–Turing thesis / computability Differential equations (the language every physical law is written in) Fundamental theorem of calculus Homeostasis & physiological regulation Linear programming & duality Newton's law of universal gravitation Spectroscopy (how we know what a distant thing is made of) Aperiodic tiling (Penrose, and the 2023 monotile) Control theory & cybernetics (feedback, stability) Darwinian evolution by natural selection Formal logic & epistemology (validity, inference) Graph theory (Euler, connectivity) Group theory & symmetry (the mathematics of what stays the same) Kinetic theory of gases Special relativity Statistical mechanics (Boltzmann — why the second law is a counting argument) Atmospheric thermodynamics (dew point, lapse rate) Central dogma of molecular biology (DNA→RNA→protein) Conservation of linear & angular momentum Crop rotation & biological nitrogen fixation (the low-input path) Fluid mechanics (Bernoulli, Reynolds, Navier–Stokes) Germ theory of disease Gödel's incompleteness theorems Haber–Bosch nitrogen fixation (bread from air) Mendelian inheritance Noether's theorem (symmetry and conservation) Nuclear decay & binding energy Nutrient cycling & agronomy (NPK, evapotranspiration) Pauli exclusion principle Phase theory (phase diagrams, Clausius–Clapeyron) Physical oceanography (hydrostatics, tides) Population ecology (Lotka–Volterra, carrying capacity) Structural & generative linguistics (Saussure, Chomsky) Structural statics (load, moment, floor-area ratio) Supply & demand / market equilibrium Time value of money & discounting Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory (ZFC) Aristotelian rhetoric & fallacy taxonomy Biochemistry & enzymes (catalysis at body temperature) Bioenergetics / energy balance (calorimetry, 4-9-4) Biomechanics of human movement (levers, torque, ground reaction) Calendar theory (Gregorian reform, leap rules) Chemical engineering (unit operations, balances, and scale-up) Compartmental epidemiology (SIR models and R₀) Condensed matter & semiconductors (band theory and the transistor) Contract theory & rule of law Dalton's atomic theory Differential geometry (curvature measured from inside) Digital versus analog (why discreteness survives copying) Discrete units in living things (codon, gene, species, phoneme) Discrete versus continuous (the oldest dividing line) Dynamical systems & deterministic chaos Elasticity (Hooke's law, stress–strain) Electrochemistry & the battery (Volta, Faraday, and stored charge) Error-correcting codes (Hamming, Reed–Solomon) Evolutionary game theory (evolutionarily stable strategies) Exercise physiology (VO₂max, HR zones) Fundamental theorem of arithmetic (unique factorization) Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium Heat transfer (conduction, convection, radiation) Heisenberg uncertainty principle Heliocentrism & Kepler's laws Law of conservation of mass (Lavoisier) Measure theory (Lebesgue integration) Music theory (harmonic series, equal temperament) Neuromuscular recruitment & the size principle (Henneman) Non-Euclidean (hyperbolic / elliptic) geometry Noncommutative geometry & the spectral triple (Connes) Null-hypothesis significance testing (Fisher / Neyman–Pearson) Optimization & gradient descent (following the slope) Peano arithmetic axioms Periodic law (Mendeleev) Plasma physics (the fourth state, and most of the universe) Projective geometry (perspective & the cross-ratio) Public choice / decision theory Quantum information & entanglement (von Neumann entropy) Quasicrystals (forbidden symmetry in real matter) Reliability & tolerance stack-up (RSS) Semiotics (sign, signified, interpretant) Simple machines & buoyancy (Archimedes) Spacetime & the quantum-gravity problem (where physics ends) Statistical learning theory (bias-variance, generalization) Stellar nucleosynthesis & the HR diagram Stochastic processes & Ito calculus Stoichiometry & the mole concept Topology (what survives stretching) Vaccination & immune memory (Jenner to eradication) AC & the polyphase system (Tesla, and why the grid is alternating) Agricultural science (yield, soil-pH suitability) Algebraic geometry (solution sets as shapes) Algorithmic information (Kolmogorov complexity) Antibiotics & antimicrobial resistance (Fleming's own warning) Antisepsis & handwashing (Semmelweis, Lister) Ashby's law of requisite variety (the humility theorem) Astronomical dating (anchoring history to the sky) Atomism (the idea that matter is not infinitely divisible) Aufbau principle & electron configuration Big Bang cosmology & expansion (Hubble's law) Boolean algebra / propositional logic Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory & pH Category theory (the mathematics of structure-preserving maps) Circulation of the blood (Harvey's quantitative argument) Combinatorial enumeration (permutations, combinations, binomial) Comparative advantage Computational complexity (P, NP, reductions) Counting & the integers (the first abstraction) Depth of field & hyperfocal distance Double-entry accounting identity (A = L + E) Electromagnetic induction (Faraday's law — how all electricity is made) Emergence & self-organization (more is different) Fixed-point theorems (Brouwer, Kakutani) Fracture mechanics (Griffith, and why things really break) Fundamental theorem of algebra Geostrophic balance & Coriolis dynamics Girih tiles — quasi-periodic design in medieval Islamic architecture Historical chronology (era reckoning, elapsed years) Human capital theory (Becker, Mincer) Hydrologic cycle & open-channel flow (Manning, Darcy) Ideal gas law (PV = nRT) Income capitalization (V = NOI / cap rate) Information geometry (statistics as curved space) Julian Day Number (continuous astronomical time) Labor economics (minimum wage, overtime law) Landauer's principle (erasing information costs heat) Law of large numbers Liebig's law of the minimum (what actually limits growth) Macronutrient metabolism & glycemic response Map projections (why no flat map is honest) Mechanism design & auction theory Modern portfolio theory (Markowitz) Network science (small-world, scale-free, robustness) Network theory (routing, addressing / CIDR) Neurons & the action potential (how a nerve carries a signal) Numerical analysis (why the computer's answer is not the answer) Ohm's law & circuit theory (Kirchhoff) Optimal packing & the honeycomb conjecture (Hales) Organic chemistry & functional groups (why life is built on carbon) Percolation & critical thresholds Pharmacokinetics (dosing, clearance, half-life) Photographic exposure theory (exposure value, reciprocity) Plate tectonics Power laws & heavy tails (Zipf, Pareto) Quantization (why nature comes in whole units) Quantum error correction & the threshold theorem Real-estate valuation (cap rate, DCF) Sabermetrics / sports analytics (Pythagorean expectation, Elo) Sanitation, clean water & oral rehydration (Snow's pump handle) Scaling laws & allometry (Kleiber's law, the square-cube) Signal detection theory (sensitivity, criterion, ROC) Spectral geometry (can one hear the shape of a drum?) Superfluid vacuum theory (the vacuum as a quantum liquid) Symbiosis & endosymbiosis (cooperation as a major transition) Systems engineering (requirements, interfaces, and emergent failure) Textual criticism (establishing what the text says) The Coase theorem (law & economics) The Green Revolution (Borlaug, semi-dwarf breeding) The Toulmin model of argumentation The double helix (structure that explains its own copying) The five Platonic solids The free-energy principle (Friston) The holographic principle & black-hole entropy The immune system (innate and adaptive, and self versus not-self) The renormalization group (physics across scales) Thermohaline circulation (the ocean conveyor) Topological quantum computation (non-Abelian / Fibonacci anyons) Translation theory (formal vs dynamic equivalence) Trophic dynamics & ecological efficiency (Lindeman) Tuning systems & the Pythagorean comma VSEPR theory (molecular geometry) Win-probability & expected-value models Arrow's impossibility theorem Central place theory (Christaller) Diffie-Hellman key exchange Dimensional analysis & similarity (Buckingham Π) Explore versus exploit (the multi-armed bandit) Fractals & self-similarity (Mandelbrot) Hess's law / thermochemistry Molecular symmetry & point groups Motor learning & the stages of skill acquisition (Fitts & Posner) Normative ethics (consequentialism / deontology / virtue) Prospect theory & bounded rationality (Kahneman, Simon) Pythagorean theorem Queueing theory (Little's law) Radiometric dating & uniformitarianism Room acoustics & reverberation (Sabine) Seismology & earthquake magnitude (Richter / moment) Singular value decomposition (SVD) The Carnot limit (the ceiling on every engine ever built) The Casimir effect (structured energy of the quantum vacuum) The Saros cycle (eclipse prediction) The golden ratio & phyllotaxis Third law of thermodynamics Kolmogorov probability axioms General relativity Second law of thermodynamics Euclidean geometry & the paral Quantum mechanics Conservation of energy Shannon information theory Acoustic wave theory Game theory Hermeneutics Maxwell's equations / classica The electromagnetic spectrum & Celestial mechanics / ephemeri Chemical kinetics & equilibriu Cryptographic security Fourier analysis & signal proc Linear algebra Newton's three laws of motion Standard Model / quantum field Wave optics Bayes' theorem Bohr / quantum model of the at Mathematics (56) Physics (35) Chemistry (15) Life sciences (33) Earth (14) Applied (38) Humanities (15) Applied and social sciences (3) Physical sciences (8) THE FLOOR 217 theories · 354 relations · one body · most aligned at the centre
angle drag to pan · scroll to zoom · click a cell for its card
rests on limits shares a form node size = relations held · brightness = depth of the card · red ring = resting on almost nothing

What the drawing is telling you

theories217
relations354 · every one carrying its evidence
cross-domain pairs169
median relations per theory3
cards with real depth217 of 217 — the rest carry only the assay template, which is why the map is dim

Thin — a beam resting on almost nothing

These hold one relation or none. Not wrong; underbuilt. Each is a place to look for what it actually stands on.

Lone in its domain

One theory covering a whole field is a field we have barely entered.

Found and checked, never generated. Every relation carries the reason it exists; a relation without one is not written.