Methods and apparatuses for the identification and/or characterization of properties of a sample using mass spectrometry. The method involves using a measured spectrum of data from a sample taken with a mass spectrometer, deconvoluting the measured spectrum of data by applying parsimony weighting to minimize the number of charge states based on one or more of: the number of intense peaks in the mass spectrum; the number of harmonic relationships (e.g., masses in small integer ratios); and the number of off-by-one relationships (e.g., m/z bins with high probability for two adjacent charges). Thus, the underlying m/z spectrum may be inferred from the family of plausible deconvoluted spectra determined by applying parsimony and the inferred m/z spectrum may be used to identify and/or characterize the sample.