And yet, science is not mathematics. Mathematics can be used to study science, they are not one and the same.
Exactly. Mathematics is not ‘observable’ but its laws can be used to posit theories in science and to predict the outcome. It’s (mathematics is) analogous to philosophy.
From lack of first-hand observation, it follows that all science of the age of the universe is in the realm of theory. (Note we can take great stock in some theories—like the Wright Bros. theories. There are applications to science that affect us in meaningful ways. But other settled matters, like Rabbi Schneerson said, have hence been disproved as ‘settled science.’)
From the purely religious perspective, G-d created the world 5771 years ago, and an unbroken chain of witnesses tells us so, reaffirmed at Mt. Sinai by 600,000 souls. One is a theory of what may have been, and one is a real first-hand account of what happened.