Talk:Occam's razor

Making this page simple

This page does not have a very readable flow, and there are a few big words that I can't seem to find simple alternatives for. 'Explanations' may be irreplaceable, and it is not too complex a term, so I am comfortable leaving it in. "Assumptions", however, is fairly complex an idea and is not used too often in everyday speech. I can't think of a good alternative. 'Guesses' simplifies it too much and 'priors', 'premises', and 'conjecture' are obviously steps in the opposite direction. If anybody wants to chime in on this or the general readability of the page (without adding too much fluff), this is on my watchlist so I'll be able to respond. I'll probably be playing around with it and seeing what works. R0uge (talk) 00:15, 31 October 2011 (UTC)

No such thing as simple or not. And it is not a principle, but a conjecture and a false one. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 157.182.253.244 (talk • contribs)

Yes simple english or not simple english. This wiki's goal is to have simple english used to describe subjects. -DJSasso (talk) 18:28, 10 September 2019 (UTC)

Newton's other

[1] does not have this "other" word added. Seems to me this may be a more reliable translation, and surely it is more easily accessible to readers, than Hawking's. Jim.henderson (talk) 03:31, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Well, Newton wrote in Latin, and your link is to an English translation. The main point is that one cannot change the wording of a sourced quotation. No encyclopedia, journal or reputable publisher would allow that. A quotation may be shortened by ellipsis, or commented on afterwards. It is Hawkin's version. So if we quote Hawking, we quote him. Macdonald-ross (talk) 10:25, 25 November 2015 (UTC)