Formal sciences are disciplines concerned with formal systems, such as logic, mathematics, statistics, theoretical computer science, information theory, game theory, systems theory, decision theory, and theoretical linguistics. Whereas the natural sciences and social sciences seek to characterize physical systems and social systems respectively using empirical methods, the formal sciences are concerned with characterizing abstract structures described by sign systems. The formal sciences aid the natural sciences by providing information about the structures the latter use to describe the world, and what inferences may be made about them.
Formal sciences began before the formulation of the scientific method, with the most ancient mathematical texts dating back to 1800 BC (Babylonian mathematics), 1600 BC (Egyptian mathematics) and 1000 BC (Indian mathematics). From then on different cultures such as the Indian, Greek and Islamic mathematicians made major contributions to mathematics, while the Chinese and Japanese, independently of more distant cultures, developed their own mathematical tradition.