Talk:Spherical cow
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[edit] Page notability
As I write this, this page has been marked with the notability tag.
I disagree that this concept is not notable enough. I have come across the spherical cow in multiple situations leading me to believe that it is a popular expression among people making theoretical models based on simplified assumptions.
If someone has a source it might be good to add it to the page.
Siker 18:07, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
Agreed. I first heard of it as "assume a spherical cat" in the context of any sort of simplified physics model. I came to this page via Google looking for the origin of the original joke. The expression is certainly notable, and worhty of inclusion. --71.5.4.21 01:08, 10 October 2006 (UTC)
Thirded. The expression is defintely notable in physics at least. I've heard it many times over the past several years. I was hoping Wikipedia would have the original source. Alas, this article is not very helpful, but it should be improved, not deleted.
As for documenting the fact that it's notable, I'm not sure what to say. I've not typically seen it in anything published. The closest thing I can think of the the blog post that lead me to look up the origins of the phrase on wikipedia: http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/2006/10/mistake-of-week-x-works-on-paper-but.html (bottom of 4th nonquoted paragraph). 129.2.108.76 18:48, 31 October 2006 (UTC) --- Fourthed. It is a very elegant way to describe what mathematical modeling does. It is no accident that several papers exist using the anology and that in fact a test book on environmentalism exists using this in the title. If a person came across the term in the literature, this entry describes fairly clearly what it is. Of course to the layman however bright, it may just seem wierd. I do ask however that the non-scientific lay person sit back and ask themselves if physicists do occasionally make simplifying approximations because they basically have to do make analysis tractible.
