I Think I Finally Sorta Know Why…

December 4, 2008

…I joined graduate school. Partially, it was because off the “aaaah factor.” The “aaaah factor” being defined as the moment when you realize that you have finally understood of how something operates/functions/works.
Tushar and I were sitting at Dunkin Donuts working on our respective material. It started off with me asking him what fugacity meant, I knew the context it was being used in, but didn’t know the exact meaning of the word. Then I started asking him about partial pressure and vapor pressure. We were arguing for a while, to what we thought was the right answer, trying to prove each other wrong in an attempt to reach an answer that was right. It was the quest to see what was the correct answer that was driving us (atleast me) to figure out and finally achieve the “aaaah factor.” We still haven’t agreed on the answer but atleast that conversation has instigated questions in my mind to figure out how to solve the problem that I have been trying to solve for my masters.
I also came to realize that it is the basics that matter in solving problems of such caliber. If you know your basics very well, you will be able to solve your problem much faster and more efficiently. This whole process has also taught me that the most important thing is to understand how to frame a question. It is the ability to ask questions in such a way that will help you simplify the problem and solve it by answering the simple questions. You can frame that simple question only when you understand how the whole process works, and if you don’t know how the process works, you won’t know what questions to ask, and you won’t be able to answer anything.
To some this might seem like jibber jabber but it makes so much sense to me right now, which is why I am writing it down in my blog hoping that, if someday I loose sight or I loose the understanding of how to solve a problem, I can read this blog and get my thoughts aligned again.

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