
Originally Posted by
PhysBang
1)What would happen if an experiment proved that 2 was not a solution to x^2=4?
2)That's not really fair, since there are a number of assumptions made in the creation of the solution that mean that it is, in every application, an approximation, even though it is a mathematical solution of the field equations. If one observes deviations from the predictions of the solution, one can use these deviations to make more detailed measurements of mass distribution. Only in the most extreme case might we worry about the accuracy of general relativity.