
The Best Way to Learn Anything: The Feynman Technique - peterkshultz
https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2012/04/learn-anything-faster-with-the-feynman-technique/
======
rasur
I'm not being funny, but I thought the Feynman technique was: \- Write down
the problem. \- Think very hard. \- Write down the answer.

Still, this is a useful update to my understanding of his techniques :)

~~~
jerf
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman#Popular_legacy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman#Popular_legacy):
'In a 1992 New York Times article on Feynman and his legacy, James Gleick
recounts the story of how Murray Gell-Mann described what has become known as
"The Feynman Algorithm" or "The Feynman Problem-Solving Algorithm" to a
student: "The student asks Gell-Mann about Feynman's notes. Gell-Mann says no,
Dick's methods are not the same as the methods used here. The student asks,
well, what are Feynman's methods? Gell-Mann leans coyly against the blackboard
and says: Dick's method is this. You write down the problem. You think very
hard. (He shuts his eyes and presses his knuckles parodically to his
forehead.) Then you write down the answer."'

In other words, Feynman himself never promoted that. I believe Feynman _did_
extol the virtues of learning things until you can explain them to others.

I have seen many people use the real Feynman technique to good success. While
I have to admit I've never quite used it directly, I can also attest to the
virtues of trying to teach others to make sure you understand something
yourself.

I have seen many people attempt to use the "write problem - think - write
solution" method. Universal abject failure. It's a joke and it always was.

~~~
rasur
Ah I never caught it was a joke.. thanks for clarifying. The 'real' Feynman
technique sounds much more interesting and beneficial ;)

------
caseymarquis
I think the issue with this is that it doesn't allow for the existence of
black boxes. I think an improvement might be to recurse until you hit
something you don't think is worth understanding fully, and then move back
upward.

~~~
spraak
In this context what is a black box? And can you explain further "move back
upward"?

~~~
tunesmith
Well, it's like if learning to write a computer program you might not feel the
need to understand assembly language or machine code. So you stop at "then the
machine translates it into machine code" (handwave, handwave), stop the
recursion, and go back upwards.

------
karmelapple
The focus on simple language is important for comprehension, and politicians
have been trending their level of complexity simpler over the years:

[https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2015/10/20/donald-...](https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2015/10/20/donald-
trump-and-ben-carson-speak-grade-school-level-that-today-voters-can-quickly-
grasp/LUCBY6uwQAxiLvvXbVTSUN/story.html)

------
woodandsteel
This is a great technique. I wish everyone, and especially teachers, would
adopt it.

I think the fellow who writes waitbutwhy.com is using something like this.

Also, I once read an interview with the wife of Jonas Salk, the inventor of
the polio vaccine. She said she met a great many people working in the
sciences and technology, and the really smart ones could explain the heart of
what they were doing in a clear and simple manner.

------
amai
"Without using the new word which you have just learned, try to rephrase what
you have just learned in your own language. "

[http://bigthink.com/neurobonkers/how-to-use-the-feynman-
tech...](http://bigthink.com/neurobonkers/how-to-use-the-feynman-technique-to-
identify-pseudoscience)

------
njonsson
It only applies to procedural knowledge, of course, but there’s a similarity
here between “teaching it to a toddler” and writing a program that does it. I
often find huge gaps in my domain knowledge and understanding, not while I’m
composing a readme up front but while I’m writing code.

------
emilong
Explaining something in a way a toddler can understand sounds a lot like
writing code to me. Computers have only as much context as they have
libraries/instruction sets and you have to "explain" the rest in those terms.

------
jgamman
working my way through Herb Grossman's Calculus Revisited on MITs OCW. He is
constantly approaching the same result from a different angle in much the same
way. Best calc teacher i ever had and he passed away years ago...

