Hacker News with Generative AI: Problem Solving

Talking out loud to yourself is a technology for thinking (2020) (psyche.co)
Talking out loud to oneself is a technology for thinking that allows us to clarify and sharpen our approach to a problem

Cognitive Science, Psychology, Thinking, Problem Solving

25 points by yamrzou 4 days ago | 0 comments

Science is a strong-link problem (experimental-history.com)
There are two kinds of problems in the world: strong-link problems and weak-link problems.

Science, Problem Solving, Epistemology

56 points by calvinfo 17 days ago | 12 comments

Ask HN: PhDs/students, how do you come up with viable problems/solutions? (ycombinator.com)
While I do have the support of advisor, and in general know the bigger research direction, coming up with a relevant doable+innovative research problem is still somewhat upon me and hard. I wanted to read on other researchers' perspective on how they do it, what works and what doesn't. Thanks!

Academia, Research, PhD, Students, Problem Solving

28 points by wayoverthecloud 19 days ago | 19 comments

Kevin Langdon's 'Omni' IQ test (lumifont.co.uk)
Why have I bothered to reproduce this test? - This IQ test was fascinating to me because there is no time limit. Kevin Langdon created a beautiful set of questions that are obviously 'quite hard' - hard enough to need considerable time to answer. His test was intended to be a thorough test of logical problem-solving ability, rather than factual memory, speed-thinking, general knowledge or literary learning.

IQ Tests, Psychology, Problem Solving

49 points by walterbell 67 days ago | 55 comments

Stop inventing product problems; start solving customer problems (uxdesign.cc)
They say that good designers fall in love with problems, not with solutions. I tend to agree, and the first thing I always ask new customers to do is describe the problem they are facing.

Design, User Experience, Problem Solving

28 points by mooreds 72 days ago | 0 comments

Database full of 1000+ validated problems that can be turned into applications (bigideasdb.com)
Access thousands of validated, real-world problems from online communities, with actionable solutions ready for implementation.

Databases, Applications, Problem Solving, Innovation, Community

13 points by OmPatel5 86 days ago | 20 comments

Solving Large Problems with a Small Working Memory (2013) [pdf] (core.ac.uk)

Computer Science, Algorithms, Memory Management, Problem Solving

10 points by yamrzou 90 days ago | 0 comments

Terence Tao: Solving problems by abstracting away highly relevant information (mathstodon.xyz)

Mathematics, Problem Solving, Abstraction

11 points by bertman 98 days ago | 1 comments

Calculating at Pencil and Paper Scale (win-vector.com)
It can be fun to drive a problem all the way into the ground. I don’t always get to do that on paying projects, however sometimes I can do it with hobby projects. In this case I am going to re-solve Dudeney’s Remainder Problem again and again to argue that it can be solved at a pencil and paper scale. The problem is as follows.

Mathematics, Hobby Projects, Problem Solving

6 points by jmount 107 days ago | 0 comments

Think first about what problem this is solving and for whom (2021) (letterstoanewdeveloper.com)
Before you write any code, think first about what problem this is solving and for whom.

Software Development, Programming, Problem Solving, Advice

9 points by mooreds 110 days ago | 0 comments

Ask HN: Solopreneurs, how did you come up with your idea? (ycombinator.com)
Ideas often come at the intersection of problems you’ve lived through and technologies you’re comfortable using. Instead of hunting for novel ideas, ask yourself: What’s frustrating you or the people around you right now?

Entrepreneurship, Startups, Problem Solving, Ideas

125 points by californium 130 days ago | 90 comments

The Explore vs. Exploit Dilemma (nathanzhao.cc)
I often analogize some real-world problems according to their ML-related counterparts. One of them is the exporation-exploitation problem, but it’s often been met with minimal recognition. I wrote this blog as something I can refer to the next time I get a “what do you mean?”

Machine Learning, Real-world Applications, Problem Solving

49 points by nzhaa 133 days ago | 14 comments

Thoughts on Debugging (catskull.net)
I was recently asked to help resolve an escalation at work. It had already bounced around between a few people, and was very muddied with conflicting reports not to mention frustration that the issue existed in the first place. Apparently I am insane, because I like situations like this.

Debugging, Software Development, Problem Solving

41 points by todsacerdoti 150 days ago | 36 comments

There Was a Consultant Engineer (et.byu.edu)
There was an engineer who had an exceptional gift for fixing all mechanical things.

Engineering, Problem Solving, Stories

10 points by janandonly 165 days ago | 1 comments

12 Coins in Verse: Genius solution of twelve balls and a scale problem (cut-the-knot.org)

Puzzles, Mathematics, Problem Solving

31 points by vismit2000 199 days ago | 5 comments

LLMs can solve hard problems (phfactor.net)

Artificial Intelligence, Problem Solving

5 points by phubbard 216 days ago | 1 comments

Teaching general problem-solving skills is not a substitute for teaching math [pdf] (2010) (ams.org)