TY - GEN ID - cogprints3667 UR - http://cogprints.org/3667/ A1 - Markovitch, J. S. TI - Coincidence, data compression, and Mach?s concept of ?economy of thought? Y1 - 2004/06// N2 - A case is made that Mach?s principle of ?economy of thought?, and therefore usefulness, is related to the compressibility of data, but that a mathematical expression may compress data for reasons that are sometimes coincidental and sometimes not. An expression, therefore, may be sometimes explainable and sometimes not. A method is proposed for distinguishing coincidental data compression from non-coincidental, where this method may serve as a guide in uncovering new mathematical relationships. The method works by producing a probability that a given mathematical expression achieves its compression purely by chance. AV - public KW - coincidence data compression ER -