A spherical cow is a humorous metaphor for highly simplified scientific models of complex real life phenomena. The implication is that theoretical physicists will often reduce a problem to the simplest form they can imagine in order to make calculations more feasible, even though such simplification may hinder the model's application to reality. The concept is so commonly known that it is sometimes referred to in scientific discourse without the need for further explanation. == Details == The phrase comes from a joke that spoofs the simplifying assumptions that are sometimes used in theoretical...