Laplace was talking about carrying out 7th order perturbation theory to correct 'wobbly' orbits in the planets caused by *planetary* gravity. A tour de force, to be sure. But mathematics is axiomatic, so once the axioms are set, no other information is needed. The results, of course, are either arid (Goedel) or fruitful (Laplace) depending on whether or not they reflect the physical world.
Laplace was talking about carrying out 7th order perturbation theory to correct 'wobbly' orbits in the planets caused by *planetary* gravity. A tour de force, to be sure. But mathematics is axiomatic, so once the axioms are set, no other information is needed. The results, of course, are either arid (Goedel) or fruitful (Laplace) depending on whether or not they reflect the physical world.
The 'tinyurl' link didn't work for me.