spherical cow

English

Artist's humorous rendition of a spherical cow.

Noun

spherical cow (plural spherical cows)

1. (humorous) A highly simplified scientific model of a complex real-life phenomenon.

   Synonym: spherical chicken

   • Csaba Csaki (ed.), Scott Dodelson (ed.), Physics of the Large and the Small: TASI 09, Proceedings of the Theoretical Advanced Study Institute in Elementary Particle Physics (page 405)

     […] something of a "spherical cow" approximation of dark matter.