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Abstract thinking
Mar. 28th, 2020 12:12 pmI excel at some kinds of formal, abstract thinking. For example, I have a good track record of studying real-world problems then devising an analytical approach that lends itself to some solution in software, a process that includes imagining how prospective algorithms would behave. I enjoy helping my kids with math and science homework and in college I enjoyed courses like vector calculus. However, I have noticed a common thread among my weaknesses: regarding things from other perspectives.
One is time zones: If the business day starts elsewhere at a certain time and now I enter daylight savings time locally, what does that do to when that business day starts from my perspective? If I don't break the simple elements out carefully of how I put the clock forward then I reach times sooner so they are incremented for me while unchanged at the other end, etc., then there is a possibility of my guessing wrongly, it's not an instantaneous, natural realization.
Another is celestial mechanics: When I am trying to think through the motion of the sun and the moon and suchlike there is a fair chance that some element will confuse me unless I make a little model to look at as I imagine rotating bodies and light paths. There is some basic guessing I can do about seasons or earthlight or whatever but it does not take long to find a simple astronomy question of whose answer it would take me some work to become sure.
I do fine with such problems. For instance, when in the defense industry, I created a system that could use a mix of radar and camera observations of objects to not only locate objects but also locate and orient other sensors that are observing some of the same things. Still, I notice that this kind of relative thinking is such that, rather than my being able to do it all in my head in a moment, it really can help to pull out a notepad and pen.
One is time zones: If the business day starts elsewhere at a certain time and now I enter daylight savings time locally, what does that do to when that business day starts from my perspective? If I don't break the simple elements out carefully of how I put the clock forward then I reach times sooner so they are incremented for me while unchanged at the other end, etc., then there is a possibility of my guessing wrongly, it's not an instantaneous, natural realization.
Another is celestial mechanics: When I am trying to think through the motion of the sun and the moon and suchlike there is a fair chance that some element will confuse me unless I make a little model to look at as I imagine rotating bodies and light paths. There is some basic guessing I can do about seasons or earthlight or whatever but it does not take long to find a simple astronomy question of whose answer it would take me some work to become sure.
I do fine with such problems. For instance, when in the defense industry, I created a system that could use a mix of radar and camera observations of objects to not only locate objects but also locate and orient other sensors that are observing some of the same things. Still, I notice that this kind of relative thinking is such that, rather than my being able to do it all in my head in a moment, it really can help to pull out a notepad and pen.
