In mechanical design, there is the related problem of how to make a system which has the minimum number of constraints while performing correctly: https://ocw.m

In mechanical design, there is the related problem of how to make a system which has the minimum number of constraints while performing correctly: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mechanical-engineering/2-76-multi-scale-system-design-fall-2004/readings/reading_l3.pdf https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mechanical-engineering/2-76-mult... A bridge which is supported by a horizontal hinge at one end, and rests on a roller at the other, is effectively fixed, but it's not over-constrained by being attached at both ends. This isn't quite what you are talking about: rather than somehow covering up error due to large tolerances, or cancelling it out (as in a gridiron pendulum or PAL tv signal) degrees of freedom are included in the mechanical design so that those errors don't have structural repercussions. Kinematic couplings use in mounts for precision instruments use all sorts of interesting combinations of geometrical contact surfaces, with the goal being repeatability rather than accuracy: the instrument always ends up at precisely the same location, and there are no potentially distorting stresses in the structure (as would inevitably occur if there were multiple over-constrained points of attachment) https://www.precisionballs.com/Micro_Inch_Positioning_with_Kinematic_Components.php https://www.precisionballs.com/Micro_Inch_Positioning_with_K... https://www.precisionballs.com/basic_kinematic_designs.php https://www.precisionballs.com/basic_kinematic_designs.php