2004-06-05Z2011-03-11T08:55:37Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/3667This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/36672004-06-05ZCoincidence, data compression, and Mach’s concept
of “economy of thought”
A case is made that Mach’s principle of “economy of thought”, and therefore usefulness, is related to the compressibility of data, but that a mathematical expression may compress data for reasons that are sometimes coincidental and sometimes not. An expression, therefore, may be sometimes explainable and sometimes not. A method is proposed for distinguishing coincidental data compression from non-coincidental, where this method may serve as a guide in uncovering new mathematical relationships. The method works by producing a probability that a given mathematical expression achieves its compression purely by chance.J. S. Markovitch