CUTTING REMARKS

Prince George, B.C. -- Matthew M. Elrod misunderstands the principle known
as Occam's razor (letter -- Oct. 3). It does not say that "when you have
two competing theories that make exactly the same predictions, the one that
is simpler is the better."

Instead, Occam's razor says that if two theories are similar except that
the second has extra elements that add nothing to the explanatory power of
the theory, then the extra elements do no work and should be eliminated.

Mr. Elrod's criterion is at best an aesthetic one, but Occam's razor is
based on logic.

Boris Dewiel