Consider this reaction and its rate law. 3a+2b--> products
rate=k[a][b]
what is the order with respect to a?
what is the order with respect to b?
what is the overall reaction order

the old alchemists made significant contributions to science even though there starting premises were off a bit. their conclusions after failure would steer them into better directions for investigation. science is no more than close observation and the initial mistakes result in rethinking and retrying experiments.