Occam's Razor: Keep It Simple, Stupid!

Occam (or Ockham) was a 15^th century monk/theologian whose 'Razor' every scientist should know and live by! I learned it as "If you have two theories which both explain the facts, choose the simpler." Note: That doesn't mean that the theory is RIGHT, just that it is simpler! The empiricist in me cries out to "Do another experiment to discriminate between them!"

Norm Petty, a chemist/engineer I worked with long ago at PAR, had a corollary that I found to be good advice for everyone who designs software or scientific instruments: "If you have a choice between two ways of implementing something, choose the one that makes the instruction manual simpler!" The software or instrument with the simpler manual will probably be easier to use! 

Further commentary on the Philosophy of Science can be found on Bob Rodgers' personal web site.

Some references to Occam's Razor on the Web are:


The Australian Broadcasting Corp's radio program of the same name.
(THESE LINKS WILL OPEN IN YET ANOTHER NEW WINDOW!)

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