Authored Concepts - Can We Have A List Please?

[AB Editor]

Hi!

I have been reminded of Pascal's wager on a different thread. It's a pretty good name for a theory, whatever the utility of the theory might be.

There's other stuff like this, although I'm not sure what to call them...

This stuff:

Occam's Razor
Shrodinger's Cat
Murphy's Law
Godwin's Law

So, could you either let me know what these kind of law/theory/concepts could be called - OR just name a few you like. Explanations welcome and encouraged!

[woofgang]

Sod's Law

[sandyRoe]

Parkinson's Law

[Tilly2]

Boyle's Law. It's a gas!

[Buenchico]

Newton's 4th Law of Motion:
"However much you shake it, the last drop always go down your leg"

[AB Editor]

There's a lot of laws isn't there?

I was hoping for more things like Herzog's Hedgehog or something.

Sod's lay is Murphy's Law isn't it?

[jim360]

Eponymous Laws, according to Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_eponymous_laws

[AB Editor]

Eponymous' Law - If you've popularized a law or notion it'll be named after you.

[The Builder]

As a schoolboy, dealing with Maclaurin's Expansion always made me titter .....

http://blogs.ubc.ca/infiniteseriesmodule/units/unit-3-power-series/taylor-series/maclaurin-expansion-of-ex/

... though you could have a whole thread on things that make schoolboys titter .

[Graham-W]

Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. You can't observe particles in nuclear physics without affecting the particle itself. The more accurately you measure the momentum of a particle, the less you know of it's position, and vice versa.

I am reminded of a joke about Schrodinger and Heisenberg.


Heisenberg and Schrödinger are out for a drive when they get pulled over by the police.
The policeman asks Heisenberg, " Do you know how fast you were going?" to which Heisenberg replied, "No, but I know exactly where I was."
The policeman checks the car out. Tyres OK, lights OK. He opens the boot and calls to Schrödinger, "Do you know there's a dead cat in the boot?" to which Schrödinger responds, "Well I do now."

[Chinajan]

Pedants beware! [I inculde myself]*

Muphry's Law, defined by http://www.urbandictionary.com as:

Muphry's Law is the editorial application of the better-known Murphy's Law. Muphry's Law dictates that if you write anything criticizing another person's editing or proofreading, you will inevitably make a mistake of your own. Note that by definition, pointing out an example of Muphry's Law makes you in turn subject to it.

*deliberate on this occasion :D

[heathfield]

Murphy's Law is the single statement, "If something can go wrong, it will." but it has innumerable corollaries.

Whilst not a law as such, I'd include 'The Peter Principle' in Ed's list.

[Tilly2]

The Lawd of the Rings.
If you're only four feet tall and have hairy feet, you should enlist the help of a Ranger before leaving our hole.

[Tilly2]

Your hole, flip!