Question

Which of the following is incorrect statement about Maximum Parsimony Method?

(a) By cutting off the unnecessary variables, model development may become difficult, and there may be more chances of introducing inconsistencies, ambiguities, and redundancies, hence, the name Occam’s razor

(b) In dealing with problems that may have an infinite number of possible solutions, choosing the simplest model may help to ‘cut off’ those variables that are not really necessary to explain the phenomenon

(c) This method chooses a tree that has the fewest evolutionary changes or shortest overall branch lengths

(d) It is based on a principle related to a medieval philosophy called Occam’s razor

The question was asked during an interview.

My question is from Character Based Methods topic in portion Phylogenetic Tree Construction Methods and Programs of Bioinformatics

Answer 1

Right option is (a) By cutting off the unnecessary variables, model development may become difficult, and there may be more chances of introducing inconsistencies, ambiguities, and redundancies, hence, the name Occam’s razor

For explanation: The theory was formulated by William of Occam in the thirteenth century and states that the simplest explanation is probably the correct one. This is because the simplest explanation requires the fewest assumptions and the fewest leaps of logic.