{"id":15178,"date":"2014-09-10T21:23:29","date_gmt":"2014-09-11T02:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/?p=15178"},"modified":"2014-09-10T21:25:50","modified_gmt":"2014-09-11T02:25:50","slug":"the-inverse-feynman-algorithm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/?p=15178","title":{"rendered":"The Inverse Feynman Algorithm"},"content":{"rendered":"

This evening a friend mentioned to me the Feynman Algorithm for solving problems. It’s a simple three step technique:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Write down a problem.\n
  2. Think real hard.\n
  3. Write down the solution.\n<\/ol>\n

    I had never heard of this wonderful algorithm, so when I got home I looked it up. It was actually suggested by the great physicist Murray Gell-Mann, presumably as a way to convey how much more brilliant Richard Feynman was than anybody else.<\/p>\n

    But when my friend told me about this algorithm, I had a very particular response. I told her that I often find myself solving the reverse problem, using what might be called the Inverse Feynman Algorithm:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Write down a solution.\n
    2. Think real hard.\n
    3. Write down the problem.\n<\/ol>\n

      This describes, more or less, how a lot of research actually works. We’re always thinking of some cool new technique or other. But every once in a while, if we think very hard and we’re very lucky, we sometimes also figure out what it might be good for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      This evening a friend mentioned to me the Feynman Algorithm for solving problems. It’s a simple three step technique: Write down a problem. Think real hard. Write down the solution. I had never heard of this wonderful algorithm, so when I got home I looked it up. It was actually suggested by the great physicist … Continue reading “The Inverse Feynman Algorithm”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15178"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15178"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15180,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15178\/revisions\/15180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}