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That is, the razor is a principle that suggests we should tend towards simpler theories (see justifications section below) until we can trade some simplicity for increased explanatory power. Contrary to the popular summary, the simplest available theory is sometimes a less accurate explanation. Philosophers also add that the exact meaning of "simplest" can be nuanced in the first place.[4]
Posted 04/07/2011 08:41 am
My statement that you requoted was a rephrasing of Occam's razor, one that Scissle recognized obviously. It's the basis of processing anything in science, you start with the most likely hypothesis and work your way down the list. Feel free to think all you like, I didn't suggest you stop for a moment, however most often if Bob is caught kissing a blonde girl in a downtown hotel by his wife, it's usually not his cousin no matter how much you theorize about it. Sometimes a rock is just a rock and not a cherished artifact from a sunken Atlantean civilization.
I'm 99 per cent sure this is a penny on a dime planchet. Why? I've seen several previously and it looks pretty much the same. The weight works within the degrees of accuracy of a non lab scale. The strike looks correct, the rim looks correct, it's magnetic and so on.
This is called "A working hypothesis". Now instead of a spinning a tall tale about what else it might be , you place your energy into disproving a working hypothesis. Yes, not proving it, DISPROVING it. If you find evidence that only supports the working hypothesis then you needn't move on. If you find non supporting evidence, you add that new evidence to your existing list of evidence and THEN you synthesize a new working hypothesis.
If the evidence doesn't support this being a dime planchet then you move on to examining matching foreign planchets as I already alluded. I believe the next step for this is having it certified as an error by an expert. The most easily accessible experts are those employed by coin grading services.
SO, CC, diagnosing coins is a relatively simple process, lay your feathers back down and get on with the task at hand.
To the original poster, send the coin in and have it graded would be my honest advice, based on what we've gathered up here in this thread it's worth the risk in terms of the outlay of cash required (less than 20 bucks all in) compared to the potential benefit.
Regards,
Ugly
I'm 99 per cent sure this is a penny on a dime planchet. Why? I've seen several previously and it looks pretty much the same. The weight works within the degrees of accuracy of a non lab scale. The strike looks correct, the rim looks correct, it's magnetic and so on.
This is called "A working hypothesis". Now instead of a spinning a tall tale about what else it might be , you place your energy into disproving a working hypothesis. Yes, not proving it, DISPROVING it. If you find evidence that only supports the working hypothesis then you needn't move on. If you find non supporting evidence, you add that new evidence to your existing list of evidence and THEN you synthesize a new working hypothesis.
If the evidence doesn't support this being a dime planchet then you move on to examining matching foreign planchets as I already alluded. I believe the next step for this is having it certified as an error by an expert. The most easily accessible experts are those employed by coin grading services.
SO, CC, diagnosing coins is a relatively simple process, lay your feathers back down and get on with the task at hand.
To the original poster, send the coin in and have it graded would be my honest advice, based on what we've gathered up here in this thread it's worth the risk in terms of the outlay of cash required (less than 20 bucks all in) compared to the potential benefit.
Regards,
Ugly
