types of proof

There is 3 ways in which one can prove that an idea is sound and produces desirable outcomes:

• theoretical proof — is the idea logical and/or reasonable, does it contradict something else said earlier
• documentary proof — is there some literature which shows that the idea is workable
• actual proof — does the idea produce the results predicted when implemented

In many forms of non-cartesian logic the actual proof is considered to be the strongest, while in cartesian logic it is the weakest (and would fall as a subsection of induction, with other 2 consisting the deduction).