Refers to a rule used to choose among possible trees, which states that the tree implying the least number of changes in character states is the best. This method can be very missleading, especially if "simple" parsimony is used.
The idea that true beauty lies in simplicity.
The principle of preferring the simplest among a set of plausible explanations of a phenomenon. Commonly employed in evolutionary and biogeographic studies.
Parsimony is the principle that "no more causes or forces should be assumed than are necessary to account for the facts" (OED). In cladistics, it is the main criterion for choosing between cladograms. In practice, this means choosing the cladogram supported by the greatest number of shared features and contradicted by the fewest. It therefore requires the fewest assumptions to explain the distribution of non- congruent features.
Brevity. In GP, this is measured by counting the nodes in the tree. The smaller the program, the smaller the tree, the lower the count and the more parsimonious it is.
The criterion for selecting a tree because it requires the fewest hypotheses about the evolution of a character.
In cladistics, where there are a number of alternative ways of portraying phylogenetic relationships, the simplest or most parsimonious arrangement is considered the one that best represents the evolutionary branching of that group
Where less changes have to be explained. Typically in cladistic analysis of phylogenetic trees. For instance it is more parsimonious to assume that the last common ancestor of human, gorilla, pan and Pongo was a poor diver as only humans have that trait. It would be more unparsimonious to assume that the last common ancestor was a diver and pan, gorilla and Pongo had all lost the trait.
Parsimony is the scientific idea that the simplest explanation of a phenomenon is the best one.
One of several criteria that may be optimised in building phylogenetic trees, but a philosophically important one due to its simplicity; and the basis of the most-commonly used method of cladistic analysis, at least for morphological data. The central idea of cladistic parsimony analysis is that some trees will fit the character-state data better than other trees. Fit is measured by the number of evolutionary character-state changes implied by the tree. The fewer changes the better, e.g. there is no sense in choosing a phylogeny that has roots, flowers and xylem each evolving twice, if another tree exists on which one evolutionary origin for each of the apomorphic states would explain the observed distribution of states across taxa(cf. distance, maximum likelihood).
the principle that the simplest explanation, the one that requires the fewest hypotheses, is the one most likely to be correct.
If two explanations appear equally plausible, choose the simpler one.