# maximum parsimony

> optimality criterion under which the phylogenetic tree that minimizes the total number of character-state changes is to be preferred; under this criterion, the shortest possible tree that explains the data is considered best

**Wikidata**: [Q1805805](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1805805)  
**Wikipedia**: [English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_parsimony)  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/maximum-parsimony


## References

1. Freebase Data Dumps. 2013
2. [OpenAlex](https://docs.openalex.org/download-snapshot/snapshot-data-format)