Being able to explain something in simple terms is actually REALLY difficult to do. It is a skill in itself. Someone can intuitively understand math very well, but lack the skill to explain it to someone else at all.
If you can’t explain something in simple terms, you don’t understand it
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Re: If you can’t explain something in simple terms, you don’t understand it
#42Feynman also said: "Hell, if I could explain it to the average person, it wouldn't have been worth the Nobel prize." [1] Showing a limitation of the maxim or Feynman's hubris? [1] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman
Some parts of physics might stretch the ELI5 to its limits. I like to explain science to my non-science friends, but I'm always hitting the issue that parts of the specialized knowledge become intuitive, and then it's difficult to go back. Say, my understanding of how electrons behave in matter is a category on its own (let's call it quantum), and it's difficult to translate to common terms.
The more I try to learn physics, the more I need to see the mathematics to understand the ideas. Without the math, I don't believe it is possible to break beyond the surface 'armchair' level of understanding.
Re: If you can’t explain something in simple terms, you don’t understand it
#43This is an interesting logic fallacy here. Consider this example. Monkey eat => Monkey live. Monkey live => Monkey eat. Monkey not eat => Monkey not live. Monkey not live => Monkey not eat. Here "=>" is used as in "implies"/"because". The last statement is weird. There are more ways for monkey to "not live" than to "not eat". Not being able to explain does not imply not being able to understand. Not understanding sur…
"implies" and "because" are not equivalent. For example, "x is positive implies x^2 is positive" is true but "x is positive because x^2 is positive" is false.
Re: If you can’t explain something in simple terms, you don’t understand it
#44I think some people (even lots of people) are pretty bad at explaining things, even things they understand.
Re: If you can’t explain something in simple terms, you don’t understand it
#45Feynman also said: "Hell, if I could explain it to the average person, it wouldn't have been worth the Nobel prize." [1] Showing a limitation of the maxim or Feynman's hubris? [1] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman
Listening to Feynman talk about magnetism fails to answer that question definitively one way or the other. But seriously, if you can't explain what a complex-valued "probability" is to a layman, apparently you don't understand quantum mechanics?
I assume this is the bit of video you're referring to?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMFPe-DwULM
Re: If you can’t explain something in simple terms, you don’t understand it
#46Feynman also said: "Hell, if I could explain it to the average person, it wouldn't have been worth the Nobel prize." [1] Showing a limitation of the maxim or Feynman's hubris? [1] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman
It's not just some hard physics that have trouble with the ELI5 / "should be able to explain it" concept.
This is also true for literature, poetry, non-analytical philosophy etc. And there the challenges are not about the complexity of the subject, but about its subtlety, and how one needs historical context and/or certain life experiences (or even proclivities) to be able to grasp a particular piece of work.
Re: If you can’t explain something in simple terms, you don’t understand it
#47This is generally true but I will add one wrinkle. And there are three kinds of explanation: 1. visual 2. mathematical 3. linguistic So sometimes, you understand something visually, or mathematically, but you are forced to put it into verbal terms (say, over a text only channel, or voice), and then you may seem not to be able to explain it even though you understand it.
I love this distinction. I've heard the headline stated before, and even if not directed at me, I find the very idea irritating and even a bit offensive. It's not necessarily that I don't understand it, it's that I can't prove to you that I understand it.
Next time I see this concept in action, maybe I'll suggest alternate methods of "explaining".
Re: If you can’t explain something in simple terms, you don’t understand it
#48I think this idea is basically nonsense. Some things are complicated. To "explain" them in simple terms you necessarily leave out a lot of information. If all that information isn't crucial to the core idea, maybe that's worthwhile. But sometimes that information is crucial. Some people look at advanced mathematics or physics and wonder why it has to be so complicated and so full of jargon. It's complicated because i…
Remember that repetition is the heart of learning. If you want someone to understand Relativity to the same degree Einstein understood it, you don't start with the math. You start with an analogy (which obviously doesn't match reality). Once they understand that you can add more analogies (maybe about just parts of Relativity). Eventually you build up from parts to the whole and from broad analogies to specific details. Over the years this is happening you will be gradually introducing shortcuts and jargon. But, only a master of the subject can explain a complex topic in simple terms. I can't tell you how many times my children have asked me a question about something I thought I knew, but once I started trying to explain it in terms they would understand I realized that I really didn't understand what I thought I understood. But if I spent a little bit of time reading up on the subject again then I found that I could explain it to them in such a way that they could correctly explain it back to me.
Re: If you can’t explain something in simple terms, you don’t understand it
#49If you can explain something in simple terms you may not understand the complex details.
If you hold a complex idea in your head translating that into English can be difficult because part of the process is removing/altering information to fit into existing notions. That is why buzzwords are popular they can take an idea and put it in a relatable concepts for the masses.
Re: If you can’t explain something in simple terms, you don’t understand it
#50Edit: apparently, I have been misinformed for a very long time. These are still excellent lectures to watch though! The Feynman Lectures are now on Youtube[0], and I like to watch them (all of them) every few years. I highly recommend that if you've never seen them, you take some time and watch them- really watch them. Close the other windows, turn your phone to do not disturb, and really watch these masterpieces of…
These lectures are different from his famous Lectures on Physics. The lectures you linked to were compiled in "Character of Physical Law" and are not related to his Caltech undergraduate courses where he presented his "Lectures on Physics" content.
You link to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Character_of_Physical_Law
"Feynman Lectures on Physics" are: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feynman_Lectures_on_Physic...