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Guessing

The late, great mathematician George Polya has advises all (math) problem solvers to begin with a guess. What the? Really? This question was recently posted on quora.com.  Here is the response I gave.

For any and every problem you face, if you haven’t experience with the problem, you first think about and then guess how to solve it. Based on this guess, you try to solve it. If it fails, you use this information and guess again. Life doesn’t usually give you a road map.

Well, not quite. The chef has a recipe. The judge has procedures. The accountant has principles. Hence, the consultant.  However, the hunter, the parent, the student, the president, the citizen, and most others do not. They guess, at first.

You must start somewhere. Hence, the guess, hopefully the educated or experiential guess. You begin life with no methods; your journey through life adds experience which helps.

Polya’s guessing mandate is little more than common sense.

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