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.
Nth'd. The external link to the Nasa article called 'Spherical Cows' should be enough evidence that this is a somewhat popular expression at least in scientific circles. Many of my math professors used this expression (of course when i was in college it was spherical dinosaurs).
N+1 (from original author) Amazon finds 80 hits for spherical cow:
Harte, John (1988). Consider a Spherical Cow: A Course in Environmental Problem Solving. University Science Books. ISBN 093570258X.
Harte, John (2001). Consider a Cylindrical Cow: More Adventures in Environmental Problem Solving. University Science Books. ISBN 1891389173.
including usage in the third edition of a very standard graduate physics book
Jackson, John David (1998). Classical Electrodynamics. Wiley, 139. ISBN 047130932X.
(it is not in the 2nd edition 1975 nor in the 1962 edition I used as a graduate student at Madison) I have reported the joke more or less as I remember it; there are lots of different versions online (involving economists, mathematicians, etc.). Madison Wisconsin is of course a candidate original source location, but I have not researched the history and can only vouch that I was told the joke there in the late 70s. Since the phrase is commonly used in many books without explanation, I thought it belonged in Wiki
Tkirkman 18:17, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Joke
Is the joke quoted, from somewhere or by someone? Only it looks like a quote, which should be attributed to someone.Merkinsmum 22:18, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
I added the reference.
[edit] Image
Is the image even ok to use/not copyrighted?Merkinsmum 22:23, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
I made the image; it is not copyrighted and may be used by anybodyTkirkman 18:19, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
Brill. I'm glad this page is here, it's an excellent expression (and pic):)Merkinsmum 11:09, 27 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Sheep version
There's a related joke about the engineer, logician, and physicist travelling through arbitrary sheep country. Engineer says "Look, they have black sheep here." Logician says "They have at least one black sheep here." Physicist says "Consider an infinite plane sheep with a single hair."
John Y (talk) 11:15, 29 November 2007 (UTC)
- The sceptic comments: "Well, they have sheep that are black on one side."--Niels Ø (noe) (talk) 11:41, 29 November 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Stub?
The article is currently marked as a stub: "you can help Wikipedia by expanding it". I suggest removing this tag. While I agree with everyone above that this article deserves inclusion, it's hard to see how there's much more to say. Perhaps more references could be added, but essentially the article is complete — short and sweet. Not every topic needs a long article. Other opinions? 158.109.1.15 (talk) 19:04, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
- OK, no one's disagreed, so I've removed the stub tag. 86.0.202.218 (talk) 19:25, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Real Version
In one version of the story, the scientists are asked to find a way to double the size of the cows, so that they produce moer meak/milk. The biologist talks about gene therapy, the chemist about creating some new drugs, and the physicist observes that scaling up a cow wouldn't work. he does this by taking the cow to be a large sphere (the body) with the a small sphere (the head) attached by a cylinder(the neck). He then uses basic volume and strength formulae to show that the neck would snap. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.122.228.82 (talk) 12:00, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
