Good vs. Great Mathematician: Remember vs. Forget the Details
A good mathematician memorizes every formula for the area of a regular polygon. A great one forgets them all and just breaks the shape into triangles.
Transcript
[1] "A good mathematician can remember all the details." [Thinking of a regular polygon with formulas: angle = 360°/n, angle = 180(n−2)°/n, h = (s/2)tan(θ/2), A = nsh/2] "Must… remember… formulas…" [2] "A great mathematician can forget all the details." [Thinking of polygons cut into triangles] "Eh, just break everything into triangles."
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Free for classrooms, worksheets, slides and other non-commercial use under CC BY-NC 4.0, with credit to Ben Orlin.
Cartoon by Ben Orlin, Math with Bad Drawings. https://cartoons.mathwithbaddrawings.com/2018-09-18-good-vs-great-mathematician-remember-vs-forget-the-details/ (CC BY-NC 4.0)