{"id":76396,"date":"2022-08-18T17:09:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-18T21:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=76396"},"modified":"2022-08-24T09:13:23","modified_gmt":"2022-08-24T13:13:23","slug":"occams-razor-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/occams-razor-theory\/","title":{"rendered":"Occam&#8217;s Razor Theory: The Answer Is the Simplest One"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What&#8217;s Occam\u2019s Razor theory? How can you use it to solve problems quickly and effectively?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the first volume of <em>The Great <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/increase-focus\/\">Mental Models<\/a> <\/em>series, Farnam Street founder Shane Parrish and content strategist Rhiannon Beaubien include Occam\u2019s Razor as one of their models, as it&#8217;s a practical thinking tool. This model helps you cut to the chase when looking for solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Continue reading to understand what Occam\u2019s Razor is and how to use it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-occam-s-razor-explained\">Occam\u2019s Razor\u2014Explained<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Philosophers, scientists, and others use philosophical \u201crazors\u201d in argumentation and problem-solving. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intelligentspeculation.com\/blog\/philosophical-razors\">A philosophical razor is a rule of thumb<\/a> designed to quickly solve a problem by eliminating unlikely solutions. The general principle is to avoid overly complex answers when a simple one does the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The most familiar <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/philosophical-razors\/\">philosophical razor<\/a> is Occam\u2019s Razor. Simply put, Occam\u2019s Razor theory states that <strong>the simplest explanation is most often the best explanation<\/strong>. Given various solutions to a problem, all of which solve it equally well, you should favor the simplest answer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the book, Parrish and Beaubien explain that simpler answers are mathematically more likely to be correct. A complicated explanation requires more factors to play nice, while a simple explanation requires just a few. Given a 50\/50 chance that each factor works out, a three-factor theory is more likely to work out than a nine-factor theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Favoring the simpler answer saves you time and effort<\/strong>\u2014you simply don\u2019t bother to explore complicated paths when a simple path works. According to the authors, less time spent testing complicated possibilities means more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/when-its-time-to-move-on\/\">time to move on<\/a> to the next important task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Applying Occam\u2019s Razor Theory<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When solving a problem or considering a situation, pause and ask, \u201cAll else equal, what\u2019s the simplest solution to this?\u201d This will help you find the most probable solution. For instance, you might decide between three solutions to a software engineering problem by picking the least complicated code string that does the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember that Occam\u2019s Razor theory is a general rule rather than an absolute. Avoid using it to simplify genuinely <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/complex-problem\/\">complex problems<\/a>, such as systemic societal issues, that require holistic, multi-factor solutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What&#8217;s Occam\u2019s Razor theory? How can you use it to solve problems quickly and effectively? In the first volume of The Great Mental Models series, Farnam Street founder Shane Parrish and content strategist Rhiannon Beaubien include Occam\u2019s Razor as one of their models, as it&#8217;s a practical thinking tool. This model helps you cut to the chase when looking for solutions. Continue reading to understand what Occam\u2019s Razor is and how to use it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":76400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,43],"tags":[724],"class_list":["post-76396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philosophy","category-self-improvement","tag-the-great-mental-models-volume-1","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Occam&#039;s Razor Theory: The Answer Is the Simplest One - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Occam\u2019s Razor is one of the great mental models, designed to help you think and solve problems more effectively. 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