the.com/parsimony
The scientific art of not inventing extra reasons when one lazy reason will do.
means Extreme frugality or stinginess with money, words, or explanations — using the bare minimum and no more.
from From Latin 'parsimonia,' built on 'parcere,' meaning to spare or economize. The same root that gives 'sparing' and 'parsimonious' underlies the old habit of hoarding — literally 'sparing-ness' turned into a noun. It entered English in the 1500s already carrying its frugal, pinch-the-pennies sense, and later got drafted by scientists and philosophers (think Occam's razor) to mean sparing with assumptions rather than coins.
- origin
- Latin parsimonia, meaning sparing or frugal
- occam's connection
- Formalizes cutting away unnecessary assumptions
- science use
- Picks the simplest theory fitting all evidence
- misuse warning
- Simplest is not always correct, just preferred first