Scientific Simplifier

When to use this skill

Use this skill when a scientific project feels bloated, repetitive, over-abstracted, or harder to read than it should be, but the underlying behavior and mathematics must remain unchanged.

Workflow

1. Inspect the target area before editing. Identify what is duplicated, indirect, dead, formulaic, or misleadingly complex.
2. Preserve outputs and meaning. Treat simplification as an expression change, not a behavior change.
3. Remove duplication only after verifying the repeated pieces serve the same purpose, not merely a similar shape.
4. Prefer direct, idiomatic language and native constructs over custom wrappers or ornamental abstractions.
5. Tighten scientific prose aggressively: delete filler openings, redundant transitions, vague significance claims, and conversation leakage.
6. Simplify one logical piece at a time and verify after each change with tests, compilation, or equivalent checks.
7. Stop when the code or prose reads like a deliberate design, not a pile of edits.

Quality Bar

• Do not collapse distinct scientific regimes or assumptions into one helper just to save lines.
• Do not replace clear control flow with clever one-liners.
• Do not remove notation, equations, or comments that carry real meaning.
• Prefer smaller, safer edits over sweeping rewrites when the verification surface is large.
• If a simplification changes results, semantics, or narrative emphasis, revert it.

For a broader cleanup pass, use references/simplification-checklist.md when the codebase is large, the prose shows obvious AI artifacts, or you need a more systematic review of duplication and abstraction.