True vs. Elegant
A two-by-two grid separating truth from elegance: a statement can be true but clunky, or graceful but false. Simplifying is about elegance, not correctness.
Transcript
[A 2×2 grid: columns ELEGANT / INELEGANT, rows TRUE / FALSE] True & elegant: "Dogs are a species of mammal." True & inelegant: "Dogs are, category-wise, in terms of species, mammalian." False & elegant: "Dogs are the odorless, hairless enemy of man." False & inelegant: "Dogs spiny! Dogs slippery! Dogs is FISH of DANGER"
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Free for classrooms, worksheets, slides and other non-commercial use under CC BY-NC 4.0, with credit to Ben Orlin.
Cartoon by Ben Orlin, Math with Bad Drawings. https://cartoons.mathwithbaddrawings.com/2021-06-07-true-vs-elegant/ (CC BY-NC 4.0)