Mathematical Physics
[Submitted on 7 Sep 2000 (v1), last revised 24 Feb 2002 (this version, v3)]
Title:Occam's Razor as a Formal Basis for a Physical Theory
Download PDFAbstract: We introduce the principle of Occam's Razor in a form which can be used as a basis for economical formulations of physics.
This allows us to explain the general structure of the Lagrangian for a composite physical system, as well as some other artificial postulates behind the variational formulations of physical laws.
As an example, we derive Hamilton's principle of stationary action together with the Lagrangians for the cases of Newtonian mechanics, relativistic mechanics and a relativistic particle in an external gravitational field.
Submission history
From: Andrei N. Soklakov [view email][v1] Thu, 7 Sep 2000 15:16:26 UTC (22 KB)
[v2] Mon, 18 Jun 2001 02:13:43 UTC (25 KB)
[v3] Sun, 24 Feb 2002 23:44:44 UTC (25 KB)
References & Citations
Bibliographic and Citation Tools
Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?)
Litmaps (What is Litmaps?)
scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?)