Difference between revisions of "Occam's Razor"

Latest revision as of 22:21, March 27, 2007

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Occam's razor

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-Occam's Razor is the philosophical principle that, all things being equal, the answer with the fewest assumptions is usually the right one (often refered to as the "simplest" solution).<ref>http://skepdic.com/occam.html</ref> However many scholars have disputed over the definition of "simplest".  Some suggest "simplest" means the shortest possible description (called [[Kolmogorov complexity]]); other suggest that it means the description with on average shortest word length.{{fact}} Still others have argued that the simplest model is the one which makes the most precise predictions with the fewest assumptions.
+#REDIRECT [[Occam's razor]]
-==Examples==
-If you are walking down a country lane in New England and hear the sound of hooves behind you, you should assume that there is a horse behind you. There are other possibilities, for example zebras and unicorns, but both require more assumptions than a horse.
-In the former case, one must assume that a zebra has escaped from a zoo (a vanishingly rare occurence) or been imported from Southern Africa by a mad millionaire, or some other unlikely scenario.
-In the case of the unicorn, one must assume that unicorns exist - since there are no confirmed sightings of unicorns in the whole of written history, this is a huge assumption. There are many further assumptions to be made concerning, for example, how unicorns managed to breed unnoticed in New England.
-Therefore, since the conclusion that the sound of the hooves is made by a horse requires the fewest assumptions, it is the most reasonable to assume.
-==Notes and references==
-<references/>
-[[Category:Science]]

Difference between revisions of "Occam's Razor"

Latest revision as of 22:21, March 27, 2007

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