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Another contrast stressed when discussing Ptolemaic vs. Copernican astronomy, turns on the idea of simplicity.

It is often stated that Copernican astronomy is ' simpler ' than Ptolemaic.

Some even say that this is the reason for the ultimate acceptance of the former.

Thus, Margenau remarks: `` A large number of unrelated epicycles was needed to explain the observations, but otherwise the ( Ptolemaic ) system served well and with quantitative precision.

Copernicus, by placing the sun at the center of the planetary universe, was able to reduce the number of epicycles from eighty-three to seventeen.

Historical records indicate that Copernicus was unaware of the fundamental aspects of his so-called ' revolution ', unaware perhaps of its historical importance, he rested content with having produced a simpler scheme for prediction.

As an illustration of the principle of simplicity the heliocentric discovery has a peculiar appeal because it allows simplicity to be arithmetized ; ;

it involves a reduction in the number of epicycles from eighty-three to seventeen ''.