Simplicity Is Worse Than Theft: A Constraint-Based Explanation of a Seemingly Counter-Intuitive Russian Saying

Authors

Martine Ceberio, The University of Texas at El PasoFollow
Olga Kosheleva, The University of Texas at El PasoFollow
Vladik Kreinovich, The University of Texas at El PasoFollow

Publication Date

4-2012

Comments

Technical Report: UTEP-CS-12-16

To appear in Proceedings of the Fifth International Workshop on Constraint Programming and Decision Making CoProD'12, Novosibirsk, Russia, September 23, 2012.

Abstract

In many practical situations, simplified models, models that enable us to gauge the quality of different decisions reasonably well, lead to far-from-optimal situations when used in searching for an optimal decision. There is even an appropriate Russian saying: simplicity is worse than theft. In this paper, we provide a mathematical explanation of this phenomenon.