The Ugly Duckling theorem is an argument asserting that classification is impossible without some sort of bias. It is named for Hans Christian Andersen's famous story of "The Ugly Duckling." It gets its name because it shows that, all things being equal, an ugly duckling is just as similar to a swan as two swans are to each other, although it is only a theorem in a very informal sense. It was proposed by Satosi Watanabe in 1969.
Read more about Ugly Duckling Theorem: Basic Idea, As A Statement About Boolean Functions
Famous quotes containing the words ugly and/or theorem:
“Woman ... cannot be content with health and agility: she must make exorbitant efforts to appear something that never could exist without a diligent perversion of nature. Is it too much to ask that women be spared the daily struggle for superhuman beauty in order to offer it to the caresses of a subhumanly ugly mate?”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)
“To insure the adoration of a theorem for any length of time, faith is not enough, a police force is needed as well.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)