Fitting an Elephant with Four non-Zero Parameters

TL;DR

This paper formalizes the problem of fitting a complex model with four parameters, addressing previous ambiguities and presenting an initial approach to solve it.

Contribution

It defines the well-posed problem of fitting an elephant with four parameters and proposes an initial method to address it.

Findings

The problem is now well-defined.

An initial fitting method is proposed.

Further research is needed for complete solutions.

Abstract

In 1953, Enrico Fermi criticized Dyson's model by quoting Johnny von Neumann: "With four parameters I can fit an elephant, and with five I can make him wiggle his trunk." So far, there have been several attempts to fit an elephant using four parameters, but as the problem has not been well-defined, the current methods do not completely satisfy the requirements. This paper defines the problem and presents an attempt.