Dan's Thoughts » ai http://danboykis.com Thinking somewhat carefully Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:28:22 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1-alpha Sussman Thought Process http://danboykis.com/2008/07/sussman-thought-process/ http://danboykis.com/2008/07/sussman-thought-process/#comments Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:21:00 +0000 dan http://danboykis.com/2008/07/08/sussman-thought-process/ I found a great lecture by Gerald Sussman about thought processes and computers. I stumbled upon it when reading about the Feynman algorithm of solving problems.
The Feynman Algorithm:

1. Write down the problem.
2. Think real hard.
3. Write down the solution.

His talk about Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics reminds me of a quote by Knuth: "Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer. Art is everything else we do."

]]> http://danboykis.com/2008/07/sussman-thought-process/feed/ 0 School Algebra Story Problems http://danboykis.com/2008/07/school-algebra-story-problems/ http://danboykis.com/2008/07/school-algebra-story-problems/#comments Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:11:00 +0000 dan http://danboykis.com/2008/07/07/school-algebra-story-problems/ This was taken from Marvin Minsky's Why programming is a good medium for expressing poorly understood and sloppily-formulated ideas.

Mary is twice as old as Ann was when Mary was as old as Ann is now. If Mary is 24 years old, how old is Ann?

My school problems weren't worded in quite this confusing a way.

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