一路向西 粤语

Chapter 918: Occam’s Razor

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

After releasing the air from the assault boat, Zhang Zian folded it and loaded it into his trunk. He then drove his car back to the pet shop, satisfied. He was not in a hurry to return the underwater sound device to Professor Wei Kang because he did not know if he had managed to fully record every sound. Although he did not understand the language of the whales, but he knew that language was a complicated thing; it was impossible to learn a language from just listening to a few fragmented words.

If Sihwa expressed that the length of the sound recorded was not enough, then he would have to repeat what he did that day again until she was satisfied.

“Master, you’re back. Godzilla… No, did you manage to record the sounds you wanted to record?” Wang Qian asked, running over to carry the battery.

“En, I’ve probably managed to record it. After I’ve finished compiling it I’ll make a copy, and you can go and pass it to Li Kun. Tell him to play it as background music in the aquarium,” Zhang Zian instructed, carrying the whole equipment set for the underwater sound device. He walked towards the second floor.

Wang Qian agreed, then returned to the shop to charge the battery.

Pi had just finished writing a chapter, and at that time, was stretching his limbs and strolling back and forth in the living room to exercise its body.

“Pi, let me use the computer. I’ll be done in a short while.”

“Zhi zhi.”

Zhang Zian took out the memory card from the equipment and downloaded the matching sound analysis software, then imported the original audio file from the memory card.

The sound was converted into a waveform and displayed on the monitor, but it was very complicated. There was no continuity, just like a thousand K-line charts of stock being displayed at the same time, causing people to see things in a blur.

He studied for a while about how to use the software, then adjusted the strainer, removing all the high frequency sounds. After that, the display instantly became a lot less messy, but there was still more than 100 curves left over.

After that, he then dragged the time axis and found the ending of the audio file.

He had roughly remembered when the giant whale’s sound appeared, and through comparing the time it appeared and when it ended, he went through a process of elimination and eliminated more than 90 percent of the random noises. He was then left with very few curves.

As he had not much experience, the rest of the curves could not be eliminated simply through using the sound figure, so he decided to use a dumb method: He selected the curves, then played the sounds.

Thump…

Click…

Ka…

Ding…

Si…

Different kinds of sounds successively rang from the computer’s weak speakers. Some sounds were beyond the human’s ears’ capabilities, and could only be heard after he used the software to strengthen the sound.

Talking about it was strange. He had been very focused when he was out at sea, but when he heard the sounds from the computer, he found that they were very foreign, as if he had never heard them before.

“Zhi zhi.” Pi scratched its ears and head, as if its whole body was itchy. Obviously, listening to the overly strange sounds made it uncomfortable, and in the end, it simply covered its ears and jumped into the rattan chair. It covered its head with a pillow.

Wu— The familiar sound rang out.

Zhang Zian’s heartbeat suddenly sped up.

He could not be wrong! The sound he had heard on the boat was the sound he was hearing now! Like the ringing of a train whistle, the sound periodically increased in loudness and then weakened. Occasionally, there were some sounds like that of the banging that occurred when the wheels of the train met the railway track.

He had found it through much difficulty. He held down the left mouse, not daring to loosen his hold. He was scared that when he loosened his hold, the curve would be buried under the other curves. He dragged it to create another window of its own.

In the new window, the curve shape was like the mountain peaks that would periodically rise and fall. One side was steep, while the other side was gentle. The mountain had several peaks, which was where the whistle was the sharpest, and the peaks mostly corresponded to the banging sounds.

For the axes of the curve, the x-axis represented time, and the y-axis represented the sound frequency.

He moved his gaze to look at the y-axis.

“En?” He froze.

Only very few types of whales could grow to such a huge size. Eliminating the whales whose head had a horn, and then eliminating the kind of toothed whales like sperm whales, there were few options left.

Zhang Zian had originally thought that that giant whale was a blue whale or a fin whale; however, the numbers on the y-axis showed that he had been totally wrong in his guessing.

The frequency range of the blue whale’s sounds was between 15 Hertz and 40 Hertz, but it was mostly concentrated in the 15 Hertz to 20 Hertz range. In recent years, due to noise pollution by humans, evidence showed that the blue whale’s sound range had slowly decreased in frequency. It grew closer and closer to 15 Hertz to prevent clashes with the noises made by humans.

The fin whale’s sound range was even narrower, between 15 to 15 Hertz, and it mostly concentrated at around 20 Hertz.

The range of sounds that humans could hear was between 20 to 20,000 Hertz. Without the help of any machinery, humans could practically not hear sounds made by the blue whales and the fin whales.

However, what the monitor showed was that the corresponding y-axis range for the whale’s sound was between 45 to 50 Hertz. That sound range was something the human ear could hear directly.

That was strange… Could it be that he got it wrong––that the curve was not the soundwave of the giant whale?

Some whales had a very large sound range and could cover the interval he captured, but those whales did not grow to such a large size.

Zhang Zian continued to think about it. The most logical explanation was that when he was recording for the giant whale, there was another species of whale hidden nearby. He had thought that it was from the giant whale, but it was actually from another whale.

Could there be such a coincidence?

If it was really like that, then where did the soundwave of the giant whale go?

He switched over to the previous window and played the sounds of the remaining curves. What made his head hurt, however, was that he was unable to confirm whether the sounds came from whales.

If only there was an experienced submarine sonar staff with him… then they would definitely be able to tell him what made the sounds.

He was a bit troubled. Originally, he had thought that his job was finished, but it looked like he would need to go record the sound again the next day. Hopefully he would not get it wrong the next time…

Wait, wait… Was it really wrong?

He tried to not let any possibility slip.

What if it was not wrong? What if what he recorded the next day was still the same abnormal soundwave? There couldn’t always be a mysterious and hidden whale following that big whale at all times, right?

There was an ultimate elimination method called “Occam’s Razor.” The law used simple words to express the idea that, “If not necessary, the substantiality will not be added.”

The simpler the avenue, the better it was.

To be more specific, when two hypotheses had the exact same explanation and predictive power, people could use the simpler hypothesis to be the basis of discussion.

Zhang Zian became vigilant. He realized that he was making a mistake by adding something out of nowhere to explain something out of the ordinary.

A mysterious whale did not reveal itself behind the giant whale. Was there really a need to add it in?

Actually, there was another explanation that existed that could explain the same thing. The giant whale’s sound was just as it sounded, and there was no existence of a mysterious whale.

Between the two explanations, which was simpler? Obviously the second one.

The sharp Occam’s Razor flashed with cold light and cut the former explanation into pieces.