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A technique I often use to test a theory is to change the inputs to be the maximum and minimum possible values and see if the model still holds true. I've foun
by source99 10y ago
A technique I often use to test a theory is to change the inputs to be the maximum and minimum possible values and see if the model still holds true. I've found it to be incredibly useful in a few specific situations.
- Swannie 10y agoYeah, that's somewhat related to sensitivity analysis that's already in the list. Though I think I'd agree that it's technically a different model, but related.
- taneq 10y agoOr more generally, look for critical points in the model and see if it still holds. Max/min values (or odd combinations of max/min for different variables) are good candidates, as are zeroes, and anything which makes part of an equation go to zero.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- mistermann 10y agoI've always thought this should be a very effective way to explain a point to someone, but in practice it rarely seems to work....maybe that saying applies, something about you can't use logic to change the mind of someone that didn't use logic to arrive at their conclusion.
- rwallace 10y agoThat might be because you're trying to use it to argue politics, where it's less applicable; hard cases often make bad law, and you can easily end up with a straw man. It works better in science and engineering.
- asplake 10y agoRight. The Laffer curve https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_curve https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_curve applies this idea
- erikb 10y agoAlso a basic programmer skill. Check a normal value, limits, and if you find it some values that may lead to unexpected results like division by zero.