Occam's razor (or Ockham's razor)[1] often expressed in Latin as the lex parsimoniae, translating to law of parsimony, law of economy or law of succinctness, is a principle that generally recommends, when faced with competing hypotheses that are equal in other respects, selecting the one that makes the fewest new assumptions.[2]
The principle was often inaccurately summarized as "the simplest explanation is most likely the correct one."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor
