Occam's Razor	Back

Our experience and research in information technology training has led us to the conclusion that the correct approach in terms of clarity and logical presentation of content is to have our courses meet the standards of the New York State Department of Education.

We will use our longstanding experience as IT consultants as a knowledge base to incrementally develop and offer courses to employees from Fortune 1000 corporations, government municipalities, software companies, consulting companies, and healthcare providers. These courses will not be open to the general public; but we recognize and accept the valuable role that the New York State Department of Education has in protecting the public interest. And we believe it sound business policy to pay our fair share to have the governing agency review and confer legitimacy on our curriculum and methods of delivery through public channels.

Our curriculum will adhere to and utilize the principles taught in the courses required for licensure for proprietary school instruction. We only ask for impartiality and a fair evaluation of our content in relation to that of the source software companies and purveyors of open source software. In some cases our way might be comparable or better! You be the judge.

We would hope that we can earn the right to be considered as a 21st century Occam’s razor.

Occam's Razor

Occam's Razor is a principle attributed to the 14th century English logician and Franciscan friar, William of Ockham that forms the basis of methodological reductionism, also called the principle of parsimony or law of economy. In its simplest form, Occam's Razor states that one should make no more assumptions than needed. When multiple explanations are available for a phenomenon, the simplest version is preferred.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) lived after Ockham's time and has a variant of Occam's razor. His variant short-circuits the need for sophistication by equating it to simplicity.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

Occam's Razor is now usually stated as follows:

Of two equivalent theories or explanations, all other things being equal, the simpler one is to be preferred.

As this is ambiguous, Isaac Newton's version may be better:

We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances.

In the spirit of Occam's Razor itself, the rule may be stated thus:

The simplest explanation is usually the best.