maximum parsimony

(noun)

the preferred phylogenetic tree is the tree that requires the least evolutionary change to explain some observed data

Related Terms

  • monophyletic
  • clades
  • derived
  • ancestral

Examples of maximum parsimony in the following topics:

  • Building Phylogenetic Trees

    • A phylogenetic tree sorts organisms into clades or groups of organisms that descended from a single ancestor using maximum parsimony.
    • To aid in the tremendous task of describing phylogenies accurately, scientists often use a concept called maximum parsimony, which means that events occurred in the simplest, most obvious way.
    • For example, if a group of people entered a forest preserve to go hiking, based on the principle of maximum parsimony, one could predict that most of the people would hike on established trails rather than forge new ones.
  • Exercises

    • What does it mean for a theory to be parsimonious?
    • What is the theoretical maximum correlation of a test with a criterion if the test has a reliability of .81?
  • Scientific Method

    • An important attribute of a good scientific theory is that it is parsimonious.
    • If the theory has to be modified over and over to accommodate new findings, the theory generally becomes less and less parsimonious.
    • If a new theory is developed that can explain the same facts in a more parsimonious way, then the new theory will eventually supersede the old theory.
  • Methods of evaluating competitors

    • The entrepreneur should be parsimonious in his/her approach to collecting information and one means of being parsimonious is to focus on information related to the industry's key success factors (KSF).
  • Maximum and Minimum Values

    • The value of the function at this point is called maximum of the function.
    • A function has a global (or absolute) maximum point at $x_{\text{MAX}}$ if $f(x_{\text{MAX}}) \geq f(x)$ for all $x$.
    • The global maximum and global minimum points are also known as the arg max and arg min: the argument (input) at which the maximum (respectively, minimum) occurs.
    • Furthermore, a global maximum (or minimum) either must be a local maximum (or minimum) in the interior of the domain, or must lie on the boundary of the domain.
    • One can distinguish whether a critical point is a local maximum or local minimum by using the first derivative test or second derivative test.
  • Maximum and Minimum Values

    • The second partial derivative test is a method used to determine whether a critical point is a local minimum, maximum, or saddle point.
    • The maximum and minimum of a function, known collectively as extrema, are the largest and smallest values that the function takes at a point either within a given neighborhood (local or relative extremum) or on the function domain in its entirety (global or absolute extremum).
    • The second partial derivative test is a method in multivariable calculus used to determine whether a critical point $(a,b, \cdots )$ of a function $f(x,y, \cdots )$ is a local minimum, maximum, or saddle point.
    • If M(a,b)>0M(a,b)>0 and fxx(a,b)<0f_{xx}(a,b)<0, then $(a,b)$ is a local maximum of $f$.
    • Apply the second partial derivative test to determine whether a critical point is a local minimum, maximum, or saddle point
  • Relative Minima and Maxima

    • A function has a global (or absolute) maximum point at $x$* if $f(x∗) ≥ f(x)$ for all $x$.
    • The local maximum is the y-coordinate at $x=1$ which is $2$.
    • The absolute maximum is the y-coordinate which is $16$.
    • This curve shows a relative minimum at $(-1,-2)$ and relative maximum at $(1,2)$.
    • This graph has examples of all four possibilities: relative (local) maximum and minimum, and global maximum and minimum.
  • Concavity and the Second Derivative Test

    • The second derivative test is a criterion for determining whether a given critical point is a local maximum or a local minimum.
    • If $f''(x) < 0$ then f(x) has a local maximum at $x$.
    • Telling whether a critical point is a maximum or a minimum has to do with the second derivative.
    • If it is concave-up at the point, it is a minimum; if concave-down, it is a maximum.
    • Calculate whether a function has a local maximum or minimum at a critical point using the second derivative test
  • Relationship of MC and AVC to MPL and APL

    • There are three points easily identifiable on the TP function; the inflection point (A), the point of tangency with a ray from the point of origin (H) and the maximum of the TP (B).
    • At point A, with LA amount of labour and QA output the inflection point in TP is associated with the maximum of the MP.
    • This maximum of the MP function is associated with the minimum of the MC:
    • At point H, the AP is a maximum at this level of input (LH).
    • Point B represents the level of input (LB) where the output (QB) is a maximum.
  • Free Energy and Work

    • The Gibbs free energy is the maximum amount of non-expansion work that can be extracted from a closed system.
    • Gibbs energy is the maximum useful work that a system can do on its surroundings when the process occurring within the system is reversible at constant temperature and pressure.
    • The Gibbs free energy is the maximum amount of non-expansion work that can be extracted from a closed system.
    • ΔG is the maximum amount of energy which can be "freed" from the system to perform useful work.
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