A counterintuitive, underused strategy that is seldom emphasized in generating creative solutions, compared to the oft-canned strategy of “think outside the box”—better still, if there is no box.
Unlike novices who religiously think out of the box, professionals know that breakthroughs often take place when they reluctantly think inside the box—constraints are the catalyst to creativity.
by MathPlus December 17, 2018
When the decision to vaccinate or not is too important to be left in the hands of so-called health experts, university hospital professors and researchers, pharmaceutical firms, and politicians, who all have a vested interest in promoting vaccination, be it for herd immunity; economic recovery; vaccine diplomacy, supremacy, or nationalism; profiteering; popularity; or politics—their mantra is that the benefits of getting a shot outweigh the risks, whose short-term advice may not always be in the long-term health interest of the general public.
Just because a decent proportion of the population have been partially or fully vaccinated for whatever personal, selfish, or altruistic reasons, this doesn’t mean that others too should blindly or ritually follow suit, because groupthink or the “wisdom of the crowd” doesn’t always translate in all spheres of life, particularly when potential long-term adverse effects associated with nontraditional techniques of producing vaccines cannot be discounted—when vaccine hesitancy is healthy for those who won’t let themselves easily fall for, or be fooled by, any health expert’s recommendation.
by MathPlus June 14, 2021
Three letters academically inclined folks long to insert after their names, as they are set to spend tens of thousands of dollars and slog through thousands of man-hours to earn it—they couldn’t care less whether their dissertations have near-zero value or impact on the outside world or not.
In an age when you can virtually order your fake PhD of any prestigious university for a few hundred bucks in a matter of days, who says that a doctorate degree is meant only for geeks or nerds?
by MathPlus November 13, 2018
Short for “Preaching, Healing, and Delivering.” The title that has spiritually been conferred on every believer of Jesus Christ, who has been commanded to share to pre-believers or unbelievers the Good News of the Lord’s gift of eternal life and His forgiveness of sins, and who has been empowered in the name of Jesus to free people from difficulties, diseases, and demons.
All born-again Christians are conferred a PhD to be fishers of men—to win souls for the Kingdom of God, so that they could end up on the right side of eternity after their last breath.
by MathPlus March 17, 2021
When problem solving with the lights off could help trigger your imaginary thinking, which could be a catalyst to experiencing that aha! moment in producing a creative or elegant solution to a wicked math problem.
Guesstimate many math educators worldwide could get their imaginations light up if they decided to do math in the dark—when darkness triggers their intuition for that long-awaited lateral solution.
by MathPlus October 12, 2021
When no superpower or developed country alone is able or capable of solving the global coronavirus crisis, whose solution requires the knowhow of both friendly and unfriendly nations.
With Beijing’s initial cover-ups and President Trump’s recurring lies and conspiracies on the coronavirus while in office, the world, which recognizes that Covid-19 is a wicked problem, is skeptical that these two superpowers could put aside their differences to fight the pandemic.
by MathPlus February 06, 2021
Also known as “Singapore model method,” “bar model method,” or “bar modeling.” A problem-solving visualization strategy whereby the problem solver makes use of rectangles or bars to draw a model diagram to represent how the known and unknown quantities in a given problem situation are related, using a part-whole or comparison model.
Using the model method to solve a word problem involving fraction, ratio, or percentage allows the mind’s eye to better grasp the problem situation by making tacit knowledge more explicit or visible—it’s like a “look-see” proof to a problem for kids.
by MathPlus October 06, 2021