A good analogy is that a model is like a map, rather than the territory itself. And we all know that some maps are better than others: a simple one might be good enough to drive between cities, but we need something more detailed when walking through the countryside. The British statistician George Box has become famous for his brief but invaluable aphorism: ‘All models are wrong, some are useful.’ This pithy statement was based on a lifetime spent bringing statistical expertise to industrial processes, which led Box to appreciate both the power of models, but also the danger of actually
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All models are wrong, some are useful
