The study tested different ways to describe soil texture and found that using alternative combinations of sand, silt, and clay can better estimate soil properties like bulk density. By analyzing a large dataset of soil samples, the researchers discovered that certain new combinations of these soil components provided more accurate predictions compared to the traditional method. For example, using 'sand-silt-sand' and 'very coarse+coarse+medium sand – fine+very fine sand – silt+clay' triplets gave more reliable results in many cases. This suggests that the choice of soil texture representation depends on the specific application and data being used.