Sharpening Ockham's Razor On a Bayesian Strop

William H. Jefferys and James O. Berger

Ockham's Razor, an established principle used every day in science, has deep connections with Bayesian reasoning, which traces directly back to Sir Harold Jeffreys' pioneering work on statistics during the 1920s and 30s. In this paper we shall explore the connection between Ockham's Razor and Bayesian statistics, and present an objective quantification of Ockham's Razor. Postscript File (394kB)