Spherical cow

Spherical cow is a metaphor for highly simplified scientific models of reality. The phrase comes from a joke about theoretical physicists:

Milk production at a dairy farm was low so the farmer wrote to the local university, asking help from academia. A multidisciplinary team of professors was assembled, headed by a theoretical physicist, and two weeks of intensive on-site investigation took place. The scholars then returned to the university, notebooks crammed with data, where the task of writing the report was left to the team leader. Shortly thereafter the farmer received the write-up, and opened it to read on the first line: "Consider a spherical cow. . . ." [Citation
last = Harte
first = John
date = 1988
title = Consider a Spherical Cow: A Course in Environmental Problem Solving
publisher = University Science Books
isbn = 978-0935702583.]

As with any mathematical joke, it is told in many variants. [cite web
url = http://www.physics.csbsju.edu/stats/WAPP2_cow.html
title = Spherical Cow: A Simple Model
accessdate = 2007-02-19
author = Kirkman, T. W.
year = 1996
work = [http://www.physics.csbsju.edu/stats/ Statistics to Use] ]

ee also

* Approximation
* Biological neuron models, in which neurons are treated as spheres.

References

External links

* [http://lheawww.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/xray/research/snrs/spherical_cow.html NASA:Exploration of the Universe Division - Supernova models as spherical cows]
* [http://heritage.stsci.edu/1999/16/votepplfull.html Hubble Heritage Gallery Page – related history from Space Telescope Institute]