In German, both “proof“ and “evidence“ translate to “Beweis“ which only has one single meaning – if something is “bewiesen“ then it is true and a fact. In English, I see the word “evidence“ used a lot for stuff that is obviously neither true nor fact. I’ve looked it up and don’t really see a difference between the meanings of “proof“ and “evidence“ – can anyone please ELI5?
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Proof is a concept. For example, you have a Proof for a mathematical theorem, and that’s a logical argument.
Evidence is something you physically show to other people to prove the truth of a claim. They’re usually used interchangeably, because evidence is generally the proof of truth.
But sometimes evidence only supports proof, if it’s a like a correlation “he was here, so he couldn’t have been on the scene of the crime”. The proof here is the concept of “not being in two places at once”. Evidence is the record of being in one place. But the evidence doesn’t PROVE he wasn’t in the other, not without establishing it’s impossible first.
So say, you’re claiming to have a mathematical proof, but no one believes you. You have to show them evidence, i.e. the proof written down. The Proof is the conceptual proof of the correct idea, the evidence is physical proof you’re not lying about it.
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