"The sciences do not try to explain, they hardly even try to interpret, they mainly make models. By a model is meant a mathematical construct which, with the addition of certain verbal interpretations, describes observed phenomena. The justification of such a mathematical construct is solely and precisely that it is expected to work-that is, correctly to describe phenomena from a reasonably wide area."

Source : John Von Neumann, F. Bródy, Tibor Vámos (1995). “The Neumann Compendium”, p.628, World Scientific

You may also like: