Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Fortune Cookies dispense problem solving and optimization advice.

"A problem clearly stated is a problem half solved" certainly captures the need to clearly set up a problem and how the work to do that can be a significant but useful part of the solution process.

On the other hand "Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment" fails to capture that in an optimization you might find a local maximum using such a technique and fail to globally optimize the whole system.

This week's fortune cookies offered or inspired surprising insight for a slip of paper inside a cookie.

1 comment:

The Dad said...

Funny, I have a recent example of what you said in regards to that second fortune. Last night I was playing Blokus with the wife and kids (great game, definitely check it out). I focused on making some really creative moves to block my wife and kids early in the game. Really pissed them off. Yet I ended up in last place. By a lot.