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@deeprun Well, the quadratic equation was originally “derived” in it’s basic form by Euclid, who lived at around 300 B.C.. Meanwhile, I can’t even begin to wrap my head around derivatives even with the wonderful tools we have(calculators, absolutely the best invention ever), in the 21st century. XD In the late 1700’s to early 1800’s, Thomas Young also determined this mathematical relationship between light wavelength and disruption:

So yeah… just for reference, the angle(theta) is right about 0.0387(…) degrees when d = 1mm, D = 8.3m, and y = right about 10.75mm. This guy calculated a whole 12-digit degrees(or more) without a calculator or anything. XD I think it’s pretty safe to say that people before the 1950’s were pretty darn sophisticated. 😉

(Not to mention old Egyptian work on the basics of trigonometry!)

@pookiemonster

Just for clarification – why don’t you want your magic to seem supernatural? (Or, should it not seem supernatural to the characters?) Technically, anything that doesn’t follow the rules of physics/biology/thermodynamics/chemistry(the last two are really just off-shoots of physics though), is supernatural. In your world, I’d suggest asking the question – is the “magic” common-place and considered “natural world order” to the peoples/nations, or is it considered a special ability/gift/talent that only certain people have access to(or only certain people are exceptionally good at?). If you consider it a more scientifically based system, then try asking these questions to help define it a little more:

• What can’t you do with magic?
• Why couldn’t a character be able to use magic?
• What powers your magic?(Unless you want to break all natural order set up by our world[which isn’t necessarily bad, just harder], magic needs a power source. It could be anything – a stone, a plant, God, etc.)
• Lastly – is your magic able to be harnessed like a tool by just anyone, or is it specific? (If it’s specific, I’d suggest defining exactly why and who can use it.)

The physics of a proper scientifically-based magic system may sound intimidating, but when you lay out the basics of what magic can and can’t do it becomes much less intimidating, and also much easier to analyze and decide what fits your story the best.

For your ‘element’ I’d also suggest defining whether it’s a material or immaterial element – e.g., is it something like a specific metal/stone/material that can be felt, seen, etc., or is it something immaterial like a “spirit” or “energy” element? That will help a great deal in your magic system’s order.

Lastly – if this is the only magic system in your world, determine how the perversion of this magic system may work(If it can work. Your magic may only work when it’s doing something “good” – but that might not be the case.). Humans can make just about any good thing bad, so if there is a good side to your magic system, there also needs to be a bad side, and you need to define how that works along with the good side – as well as exactly what makes it bad. You could just leave the magic as-is, and have it merely be used as a tool for either good or bad without changing the actual consistency of the magic system, or you could define magic into more black/white areas(Example: The Dragon Prince. There is one magic system, but a black and white application of that magic system. It has strengths and weaknesses, but one pit you might want to avoid falling into is the “good guy using black magic” – any God-following person can only do so by giving up their sin, not manipulating their wants/sins to supposedly follow God. It’s impossible to make a sinful thing a godly thing. A person “turning” from the bad side to good side might have a period where they have good intentions but “use the wrong magic”, but eventually they will have to face up and turn away from wickedness just like everyone else.).