Asymptotics and the role of minimal models

A traditional view of mathematical modeling holds, roughly, that the more details of the phenomenon being modeled that are represented in the model, the better the model is. This paper argues that often times this 'details is better' approach is misguided. One ought, in certain circumstances, to search for an exactly solvable minimal model-one which is, essentially, a caricature of the physics of the phenomenon in question.