- #1
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I have seen several times that people, including myself, ask a question because they want to know the answer. These questions might not allways be formulated correctly, maybe overdone, maybe the question is overcomplicated - reason: We ask because we don't allways know how to ask or what to ask for, and not allways see the most simplified version of that question..
Some replies from mentors sometimes seem arrogant, and sometimes it seems the mentor gets cranky because the question is incorrectly asked. As if it was better if the person who ask, knows the answer already, and know precisely what to ask for, and know precisely how to simplify the question into the least common dominator. Well, that is not allways happening. Sorry, I am one of those persons.
Some questions are taken REALLY literally. Say I ask: "If I put a piece of 100 grams iron on the desk and heat it up to 1000 degrees Celcius. How much energy has been absorbed by the iron piece?" (And ofcourse you will quote this example and say that there is no such question like that in this forum).
The answer might go like this: "Your desk will burn up, therfor the experiment is not possible. Please formulate the question simpler so anyone can understand what you are experimenting with. And remember that the burning wood your desk are made of will complicate the analysis".
Most of the times it seems obvious what a person asks for, but the answers are often based on the details that has nothing to do with the actual question. The question about how far light can travel through air. Say it travels the distance between New York and Moscow. How faint will the light be at last. The answer goes like this: "The curvature of the Earth will not make it possible to observe or measure...or the light source and the observer must be very tall, but then there is no atmosphere at that hight...".
To me it seems obvious what these questions is all about.
How can you NOT understand, or at least have the imagination to sort out the not so important details and instead pick out the essence of the actual question?
This might not be a very big problem, but it is there.
OK, that was my blow out for today. No offense. I appreciate your knowhow, REALLY.
Vidar
Some replies from mentors sometimes seem arrogant, and sometimes it seems the mentor gets cranky because the question is incorrectly asked. As if it was better if the person who ask, knows the answer already, and know precisely what to ask for, and know precisely how to simplify the question into the least common dominator. Well, that is not allways happening. Sorry, I am one of those persons.
Some questions are taken REALLY literally. Say I ask: "If I put a piece of 100 grams iron on the desk and heat it up to 1000 degrees Celcius. How much energy has been absorbed by the iron piece?" (And ofcourse you will quote this example and say that there is no such question like that in this forum).
The answer might go like this: "Your desk will burn up, therfor the experiment is not possible. Please formulate the question simpler so anyone can understand what you are experimenting with. And remember that the burning wood your desk are made of will complicate the analysis".
Most of the times it seems obvious what a person asks for, but the answers are often based on the details that has nothing to do with the actual question. The question about how far light can travel through air. Say it travels the distance between New York and Moscow. How faint will the light be at last. The answer goes like this: "The curvature of the Earth will not make it possible to observe or measure...or the light source and the observer must be very tall, but then there is no atmosphere at that hight...".
To me it seems obvious what these questions is all about.
How can you NOT understand, or at least have the imagination to sort out the not so important details and instead pick out the essence of the actual question?
This might not be a very big problem, but it is there.
OK, that was my blow out for today. No offense. I appreciate your knowhow, REALLY.
Vidar