If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.
Albert Einstein
It’s pretty straightforward that you have to understand anything comprehensively if you want to explain it. Recently, I watched a video in which the YouTuber explained, the Feynman technique, if you’re going to learn something absolutely, the best way is to teach someone.
In this article, I will dig deep to explain the Feynman technique process.
A bit of background on Richard Feynman: He was the Nobel prize winner back in 1965 for contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics. He was a great scientist and one of the best teachers to explain anything. In fact, he was well known for the nickname as a great explainer.
He was able to explain the complicated stuff for a layman to understand it easily. That’s why he was one of the best teachers.
A good teacher is one who can understand those who are not very good at explaining and explain to those who are not very good at. understanding.
— Dwight D. Eisenhower
He was very famous for working with complex equations and constantly solving them until they were easy to digest and explain later to his students. That’s why this technique, “Feynman technique,” is after his name.
You don’t need to be a scientist to work with complex equations; therefore, you can easily explain to someone else. You literally take his approach and apply the technique in any field of education. As Feynman said,
The first principle is that. you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. — Richard P. Feynman
In the above quote, he actually means that you have to understand all the tiny details of the concept before you are even able to explain it to someone else instead of you pretending to do. That’s the backbone of the Feynman technique. Here is the 4 steps process to learn and apply the technique.
Step-1: Concept name
Simply grab a piece of paper and write down the concept you would like to learn.
Step-2: Explain the concept
Simply explains the concept in simple plain English. He also recommended using different examples to understand it from a distinct perspective.
Step-3: Identify the problem
In step-3, you need to find the root cause of why you are getting stuck if you are solving a math equation or making an error if you are working with a code. You can literally use this technique in almost any subject.
While reviewing it, make sure to go back to your sources and try to understand why this thing is happening.
Step-4: Refine
In step-4, you need to go back and find out if there is any technical or special term to understand and use the same technique to simplify it in your own language. Challenge yourself to break down the convoluted terms into tiny parts and make sure to understand everything.
The key here is simplicity!
After using the 4-steps approach, you make sure you can explain the stuff to someone whom does t have the same knowledge base as you. That is the ultimate approach to teaching someone and ensuring they understand that subject altogether.
Conclusion
The Feynman technique is a solid technique to understand a new concept because it will help you to overview the concept quickly and help you identify your weak points.
Dividing the problem into four steps will help you understand the concept’s wimpy parts.
Pro tip: If you are working on a complex concept and want to understand it thoroughly. Always ask why this will work? I would recommend always questioning yourself, how can I explain this to a kid and work on your why.
Thank you for reading, and keep learning!
Richard Feynman quotes about knowledge:
Fall in love with some activity, and do it! Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn’t matter. Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough. Work as hard and as much as you want to on the things you like to do the best. Don’t think about what you want to be, but what you want to do. Keep up some kind of a minimum with other things so that society doesn’t stop you from doing anything at all.
— Richard Feynman
I’m smart enough to know that I’m dumb.
— Richard Feynman
