Related:

• o a zeroth approximation [from `to a first approximation'] A really sloppy approximatio
  a wild guess. Compare social science number....
• o a first approximation: 1. [techspeak] When one is doing certain numerical computatio
  an approximate solution may be computed by any of several heuristic methods, then refined to a final value....
• All exact science is dominated by the idea of approximation. -- Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
• Everything you know is wrong. But some of it is a useful first approximation.
  -- Eric S. Raymond...
• Everything you know is wrong, but some of it is a useful approximation!
• Five is a sufficiently close approximation to infinity. -- Robert Firth