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This page last changed 2024.09.18 10:44 [3 times today, 3 times yesterday, and 19 total times]

Tricks Claude E. Shannon Used in His Research and Creative Thinking

Extracted from a video about him from 2015 presented to the Lexington Computer and Technology Group on 9/18/2024

Tricks for formulating and solving problems

  1. Simplification: get rid of enough detail (including practical aspects) for intuitive understanding.

  2. Similarity to a known problem (experience helps)

  3. Reformulate (avoid getting in a rut)

  4. Generalize (more than opposite of simplify)

  5. Structural analysis (break problem into pieces)

  6. Inversion (work back from the desired result)

Other tricks that Shannon often used

  1. Be interested in several interesting problems at all times. Work on the most interesting one.

  2. Look for contradictions as well as proofs.

  3. Study what is happening in multiple fields. But don't work on what many others are working on.

  4. Ask conceptual questions about everyday things.

  5. Don't write papers unless you really want to share something fascinating.

  6. Don't assume your readers know everything you do. Spoon feeding not a bad idea.