I think I read that Novelty has something to do with inverters. I met Heart the designer and manufacturer of one of the first dependable and efficient modified sine wave (step) inverters during the late 80s. This was really an advance in the industry at the time. One of the engineers from Trace came by the store and related a story where he and some friends were sailing down the coast of the Costa Rico jungle and a long-haired guy wearing only a belt and a machete came out to their boat on a sailboard and asked what inverter they had on board? A brilliant hippie that made a lot of money. I don't think he was totally motivated by monetary reward. He brought modern convenience to those living off-grid back in the 80s.

Being smart means nothing since it how that smartness is applied. Most of the time the smart people I have met had no concern for money so they did not accumulate much of it. The y had great ideas and since the idea was what excited them they followed that idea where it led. Many times since money was not the goal they had little or none. I have often hoped to win the lottery for a lot I mean a lot of money, I think a great business could be had by getting these people together and letting them do what they are good at. Smart people doing what they want to do along with business people putting that intelligence into a framework for making people lives better, It could not fail, it would take longer than six months to get going so the need for a lot of money.

Heisenberg's uncertainty principle notwithstanding, Good Will Hunting is NOT an old movie.

Word

I agree with you that the movie misrepresents how smarts works and does everyone a disservice by underplaying the role of effort. Learning, as opposed to insight, is generally enhanced by promoting a growth mindset.

Nonetheless mathematical insight can sometimes reveal simpler approaches which sometimes allow those not certain that more complicated approaches will be required to finish first.

My stepson had the Gauss experience with a different problem in junior high. His teacher came back from a conference excited about a problem she'd worked on a bit but hadn't yet solved. So she shared it at the start of class. As he was leaving he handed her his solution and she could see immediately that it was correct. Anyone else enjoy this sort of thing? I'll give the problem and share his solution tomorrow or by message if you want to give it a go:

There are five guests at a birthday party. So the birthday boy wishes to cut the cake into five pieces so that each one will get an equal share of cake and of frosting. The cake is a rectangular prism with a square base and undetermined height, frosted evenly on the four vertical sides and top (and no where else). The slices can be made in any manner using a regular straight bladed knife. How can this be done?

Because someone always asks .. no, the entire cake cannot be put in a blender and served in pudding dishes, and neither can the frosting be removed and doled out separately after cutting the cake into five slices so that each one's width is a fifth the side length of the cake's base.

I agree with your ideas Novelty, but I learnt eons ago that the first person to solve the problem that way was Gauss, from the 1800s. Not to say that the young boy in your story didn't independently work it out. It is unfortunate that genius is often unrecognised or even discriminated against, as happened to your gender throughout history.

100 plus 1 is 101
99 plus 2 is 101
....
.... 51 plus 50 is 101.
So you have 50 lots of 101
50 times 101 equals 5050. Much easier to calculate.

Now ask me how to convert, 100% accurately, degrees Centigrade into degrees Fahrenheit by mental arithmetic. (The same logic also converts in the other direction.)

Understood- agree ; yes it is sad . Times improve some of
societal norms .Thinking along with everyone else is a safe
comfortable place to be. A co worker once said " he was
trying to listen to his inner voice( intuition )and RE- BUILD
his confidence in using it ". Once tamped down or regularly
ignored- we feel OK with not acting on it/ this is a loss of human potential , as I humbly see it.
To nurture it in ourselves is an awesome task , to
facilitate it in society seems insurmountable
thanks

Fascinating story! Sad that people are Ostracized sometimes due to their smarts.

Yup..couldn't agree more, even child prodigies have a foundation on which to build, a fertile, nourishing environment can be extremely helpful in learning...