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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Occam's razor



"Occam's razor is the law of parsimony or economy. It is a principle urging one to select from among competing hypotheses that which makes the fewest assumptions."

I couldn't have said that more succinctly myself.

5 comments:

BS buster said...

mmmmm so its entirely subjective then

Armchair Critic said...

You don't seem to do subtle very well BSb.
I understand how you would see it as simplistic, however the correct description is "a heuristic"

BS buster said...

ok....... what is heuristic ?

BS buster said...

i like simplistic , i think sometimes simplistic , is discounted as crude or of little intellectual merit .
its a good place to start if something is complex .
personal approach

Armchair Critic said...

i like simplistic , i think sometimes simplistic , is discounted as crude or of little intellectual merit .
its a good place to start if something is complex .

Bingo - that is Occam's Razor.

And in answer to your question, a heuristic is a rule of thumb.

Now, back to dealing with climate change....