I am looking for a word (or phrase, I suppose) that means/implies that an explanation of a deeply technical subject is over-simplified almost to the point of inaccuracy in order to convey a particular concept.
The borderline technical fallacies might be elaborated or clarified later on, but for the time of the original explanation, they are intentionally left vague or inaccurate.
An example might be trying to explain how to bake a chocolate cake. I might use a simplified explanation of saying that you must combine and bake butter, eggs, sugar, flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda.
But in reality if you combined them all then baked them, you wouldn't end up with anything remotely close to a chocolate cake, because there is a specific order in which all the individual ingredients must be combined before you end up with a real chocolate cake.
edit: I'm looking for a word (preferably) or a phrase (if a single word doesn't exist for the concept) that implies both the simplification of a concept, as well as it being for the purpose of conveying a specific concept. My cake analogy may not be the best, I'll try to think of a better one and edit this question if I do.
Best Answer
Watered Down is used to denote when something is simplified. Now, how simplified it may be is largely subjective.