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Von Neumann's elephant - Wikipedia

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In recreational mathematics, von Neumann's elephant is a problem of constructing a planar curve in the shape of an elephant from only four fixed parameters. It originated from a discussion between physicists John von Neumann and Enrico Fermi and the expression is used in physics to characterize a model with so many parameters that it is overfit, will consequently match any set of experimental data, and therefore is unfalsifiable and unscientific. In a 2004 article in the journal Nature, Freeman Dyson recounts his meeting with Fermi in 1953. Fermi, while discussing a novel theory Dyson was proposing, offered the harsh critique, "There are two ways of doing calculations in theoretical physics. One way ... is to have a clear physical picture of the process that you are calculating. The other way is to have a precise and self-consistent mathematical formalism. You have neither." Dyson countered by stating that his theory matched Fermi's own data. Fermi asked about a number of arbitrary par

Von Neumann's elephant - Wikipedia Jump to content From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Problem in recreational mathematics Fermi–von Neumann elephant (4 complex parameters, 2010) In recreational mathematics , von Neumann's elephant is a problem of constructing a planar curve in the shape of an elephant from only four fixed parameters. It originated from a discussion between physicists John von Neumann and Enrico Fermi , and the expression is used in physics to characterize a model with so many parameters that it is overfit , will consequently match any set of experimental data, and therefore

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