You probably already know this to some degree, but I wanted to post about it since these few things became quite apparent to me while solving this problem today: https://mirror.codeforces.com/contest/1912/problem/K.↵
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(1) Ideas come through a filter-like process in the brain -- they are generated in the subconscious mind, are passed through a filter, and then the best ones come out. The catch is that sometimes you try to concentrate on a problem so much (shifting everything to the weaker conscious mind) that basically nothing comes out of the filter -- it becomes too strict. Sometimes you need to chill and take your time to start making progress. I came across this idea partially from Colin Galen's video on the topic.↵
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(2) Write out your thoughts. This is problem-solving 101, and I'm not suggesting anything new here, but it is often the simplest advice in life we ignore. Writing your thoughts does 2 things:↵
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(2.1) cognitive unload. short-term memory can generally hold 3-4 chunks of info at a time before getting overloaded. writing relevant thoughts down frees up the memory for actually putting things together rather than retaining them, which a paper can do. ↵
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(2.2) removes errors in your thought process and logic.↵
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Consider this advice (I wrote this as somewhat of a reminder to myself as well).
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(1) Ideas come through a filter-like process in the brain -- they are generated in the subconscious mind, are passed through a filter, and then the best ones come out. The catch is that sometimes you try to concentrate on a problem so much (shifting everything to the weaker conscious mind) that basically nothing comes out of the filter -- it becomes too strict. Sometimes you need to chill and take your time to start making progress. I came across this idea partially from Colin Galen's video on the topic.↵
↵
(2) Write out your thoughts. This is problem-solving 101, and I'm not suggesting anything new here, but it is often the simplest advice in life we ignore. Writing your thoughts does 2 things:↵
↵
(2.1) cognitive unload. short-term memory can generally hold 3-4 chunks of info at a time before getting overloaded. writing relevant thoughts down frees up the memory for actually putting things together rather than retaining them, which a paper can do. ↵
↵
(2.2) removes errors in your thought process and logic.↵
↵
Consider this advice (I wrote this as somewhat of a reminder to myself as well).