When we try to understand how the world functions, we turn to science over art for a few reasons. One such reason is that science is exact, while art is open to discussion. When scientists calculate how much energy is given off by a certain reaction or what the yearly increase in world temperature is, these values are exact. The scientists use formulas that provide values that are known to be correct because these formulas have been proven to work consistently and properly over time. On the other hand, art is subject to interpretation. Even a simple drawing can be interpreted hundreds of ways by different people. Each person would have his or her own opinion about what the drawing depicts and means to him or her. This type of ambiguity in meaning is not possible in science, where there is only one answer to a problem. You cannot provide five different values as answers on a chemistry exam; there is only one correct solution.
Nevertheless, what art lacks in exactness, it makes up for it in aiding science. When a new building is to be constructed, thinking of the design for the building is art. When the architect is drawing up blueprints for the building and attempting to think of ways to make the building stand out among the other buildings in the area, he or she is an artist at that moment. Once the design is established, it takes science to work out the mathematics involved in constructing a building, such as which angles the components must be positioned so as not to cause the building to collapse. In this way, science and art work in harmony to produce a beautiful, stable building.
