My hairy, green, ball thing

The following quote is attributed to Richard Feynman

I had a scheme, which I still use today when somebody is explaining something that I’m trying to understand: I keep making up examples. For instance, the mathematicians would come in with a terrific theorem, and they’re all excited. As they’re telling me the conditions of the theorem, I construct something which fits all the conditions. You know, you have a set (one ball) – disjoint (two balls). Then the balls turn colors, grow hairs, or whatever, in my head as they put more conditions on. Finally they state the theorem, which is some dumb thing about the ball which isn’t true for my hairy green ball thing, so I say, ‘False!’

My Richard Feynman schema has attributes

  1. often misquoted
  2. liked to perpetuate myths about himself

One thought on “My hairy, green, ball thing

  1. Pingback: The Feynman Technique | Beyond The Earcanal

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