Doing it again and again for recording purposes strips the joy out of it. It's like solving a puzzle that you've already solved before. What's the point?
One thing stood out to me yesterday (actually, I wrote this a few weeks ago). There was a probability problem that was tricky. At first, I wasn't sure how to answer it. I remember thinking for a few minutes, unsure of myself. It was when I tried to break down the problem that it opened up for me. Then it started to make sense. But one last challenge was a question involving the sum. It was finding the probability that the sum of numbers appearing after tossing two dice is positive. I thought hard and I thought well. Then I said, "let's try some values then."
It was when I tried to substitute values to make the sum positive that I noticed that there are only two possibilities: either they are both even or they are both odd. They have to have the same parity, basically. So that solved it.
What at first looked challenging and intimidating was actually quite easy in hindsight. I felt proud of myself especially since I did not consult Google. But I almost did. I almost panicked.
Interestingly, I have this feeling of boredom, I guess, after solving a problem. Okay, one new book read, one new path uncovered. That space between mystery and familiarity. I can't stop thinking about it.
It's just not the same. It's like reading a book when you know exactly what's going to happen next.
It's just not as fun when you already know the answer.
The fun part is in trying to discover if you can. But there's also the risk of not solving it. And that would be frustrating. It eats at you.
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