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Ask HN: What's the hardest problem you've ever solved?

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Re: Ask HN: What's the hardest problem you've ever solved?

#171

Post by bredren »

zhte415 wrote: post #149
amp108 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing universities should teach is efficient problem solving. If it was more work to cheat than to memorize, I'd say you might want to re-evaluate whether "not memorizing things" is a principle you should cling so dogmatically to.

I had a programmable calculator during A Levels (UK sixth form college). Was talking Computer Science, Maths, Further Maths, a couple of others. These were not AS Levels, full A Levels. I also had the seemingly good idea it would be nice to program the calculator, initially just writing algorithms like bubble-sort for CS that could be referred to, then extending to Statistics showing working for various statistical m…

I also wrote programs to run long equations on my calculator. This wasn't forbidden at the time because it was too early, I suppose. Regardless, you had to show your work to get credit anyway so they just functioned as a way to check my work instantly.

I had a lot of fun writing little programs to help out on long arduous problems though. I wish I had all my TI programs.

Re: Ask HN: What's the hardest problem you've ever solved?

#172

Post by sdlion »

lettergram wrote: post #150

This was more of an introspection, but i used to be rather depressed. When I started reflecting on life and all I could contribute or succeed at (this was actually years ago, not specifically this question). I realized that if someone 1000x more intellect / capable / knowledgeable came along, everything I could add or solved from an intellectual perspective would be useless. After meditating / contemplating this for…

I had one similar realization but more focused on learning. "What's the difference between an expert and me?" Like a tennis pro, or a recognized programmer (besides muscle memory) "Information" Even emotions could be seen as a state of certain information in your head. Even your ego. "We are not that different. I can learn anything."

This doesn't count efficiency and optimization. It was just that given enough time and resources we are capable to "do something".

It's hard to learn that hard work will beat aptitude for a skill and that we actually have limited time in our lives though. But as you mention it makes a difference in the mind of people. The mental blocks many people have against learning new things really hinders how people interact with this rapid changing modern world and with their social groups. Also, there's these kind of realizations that humbles you (or lift your spirit up) and helps you being less egocentric, more empathic and forgiving.

I think bringing down these walls is a really hard problem.

Re: Ask HN: What's the hardest problem you've ever solved?

#173

Post by ben-schaaf »

twtw wrote: post #146
StavrosK wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's more to learning than memorization.

There's more to exams than memorization too, and cheating because you don't like memorization is childish. If the exams really test only memorization, drop the class.

I strongly remember a mandatory English (literature) exam in Highschool where you had to write an essay in response to a question that was known beforehand, in relation to one of three or so books you had studied beforehand (You didn't know which on the day). The way this test was practiced was to get every student to write the full essay for all 3 books and then to memorize that. Most other English tests I had to take in Highschool were similar to this, but not quite as bad. I think you have too high of expectations from education systems to think that all tests test more than memorization or that people can simply "drop the class".

Re: Ask HN: What's the hardest problem you've ever solved?

#174

Post by ComputerGuru »

* Creating a prototype of a low-cost alternative to braille displays for PCs for my thesis (without access to modern machining resources): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPwgkf1aZ9I then filing for a patent (that I didn't get): https://patents.google.com/patent/US20130203022A1/en

* Improving that design to make it work reliably and conveniently enough for mass production and deployment in 3rd world countries (still haven't figured it out :(

* Reverse engineering the APIs and roadblocks to port iMessage to Windows: https://neosmart.net/blog/2018/imessage-for-windows/

* Porting an entire automated Windows PC system repair suite from Windows to Linux (still to fix Windows PCs) in two weeks when Microsoft pulled the rug out from under us and abruptly informed me that they would no longer be licensing Windows PE to ISVs: https://neosmart.net/EasyRE/ (now powered by FreeBSD)

Re: Ask HN: What's the hardest problem you've ever solved?

#175

Post by killjoywashere »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #113
nscalf wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would 100% talk about this in interviews depending on the interviewer. I can think of a couple interviews I had in SF that would probably be appreciative of this level of effort because you principally reject memorization.

Admitting to significant academic fraud during a job interview is a very, very bad idea. Furthermore, I would question the ethics and morality of any company that said "Wow, you solved an incredibly tough problem in order to commit fraud. Boy, are we the place for you!"

> Admitting to significant ... fraud during a job interview is a very, very bad idea.

After serving his time, that's exactly how Frank Abagnale got a job in the FBI.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Abagnale

Re: Ask HN: What's the hardest problem you've ever solved?

#176

Post by sgc »

pugworthy wrote: post #152

Get along with my wife in a positive way for both of us. Been working on it for almost 30 years. I'm serious.

I sometimes feel I am far from even being able to start on that problem. I think it is often life's biggest difficulty, especially if you have great loves (for activities, places, etc) that do not coincide. Unfortunately, it is easy for it to become a situation where nobody wins and everyone loses.

Re: Ask HN: What's the hardest problem you've ever solved?

#177

Post by zzo38computer »

bredren wrote: post #171
zhte415 wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a programmable calculator during A Levels (UK sixth form college). Was talking Computer Science, Maths, Further Maths, a couple of others. These were not AS Levels, full A Levels. I also had the seemingly good idea it would be nice to program the calculator, initially just writing algorithms like bubble-sort for CS that could be referred to, then extending to Statistics showing working for various statistical m…

I also wrote programs to run long equations on my calculator. This wasn't forbidden at the time because it was too early, I suppose. Regardless, you had to show your work to get credit anyway so they just functioned as a way to check my work instantly. I had a lot of fun writing little programs to help out on long arduous problems though. I wish I had all my TI programs.

Unless the exam allows notes, it can make sense to forbid using programs that are already stored and require to write the program during the time needed for the exam if you want to do that (even to program it to show the work if you want to add that into the program too; I think someone once did this), then it can be OK to allow it, I suppose.

Re: Ask HN: What's the hardest problem you've ever solved?

#178

Post by [deleted] »

yholio wrote: post #90

I somehow decided I needed to cheat to pass a certain exam because I was basically crap at memorizing stuff. So I used an analogue wireless headphone, an induction loop around my neck and a mobile phone. Since I lacked an accomplice to dictate, I read aloud the hundreds of pages and recorded myself, careful to preserve and properly serialize things like complex formulas. This was before the era of iPods and SDCard pl…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What's the hardest problem you've ever solved?

#179

Post by brianpan »

twtw wrote: post #128
jey wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure he learned much more useful stuff by coding up that monstrosity, and in the real world he can just google to look up those formulas he didn't memorize. The fully elaborated version of the underlying principle is probably something like: "I have much better ways to spend my time than on memorizing formulas that I could easily look up later".

If an individual's philosophy is that you can always google stuff so you don't need to know anything, I don't see why that person should waste time in school.

Knowing and memorizing are not the same thing. I went to school to learn, not to memorize.

Re: Ask HN: What's the hardest problem you've ever solved?

#180

Post by neuralzen »

BlockchainStock wrote: post #15

ICOs and DAOs both present difficult legal problems vis-a-vis the SEC and securities laws. Where others have failed we believe we have developed a legal framework for both a non security/unregistered ICO and legal DOA. To legitimize our legal position we submitted a No Action Letter to the SEC. Uniquely this is not just another legal article/arguement, because the SEC will not respond to a hypothetical No Action Lett…

I'm curious too, would you mind sending me a link?
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