In Pursuit of Elegance

Matthew E. May puts words to a concept most intuitively understand and have experienced but few have actually been able to execute on — the concept of “elegance,” specifically in solutions to intractable problems. An elegant solution is most often one that leaves things out, rather than putting extra components in, as a means of addressing a problem of significant complexity. I like many of May’s examples, but I admit a few of them were a bit airy for me and didn’t hold as much weight as I would have hoped.