Page 176 - A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science

One important key to learning swiftly in math and science is to realize that
virtually every concept you learn has an analogy—a comparison—with
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something you already know. Sometimes the analogy or metaphor is rough—
such as the idea that blood vessels are like highways, or that a nuclear reaction is
like falling dominoes. But these simple analogies and metaphors can be powerful
tools to help you use an existing neural structure as a scaffold to help you more
rapidly build a new, more complex neural structure. As you begin to use this new

structure, you will discover that it has features that make it far more useful than
your first simplistic structure. These new structures can in turn become sources
of metaphor and analogy for still newer ideas in very different areas. (This,
indeed, is why physicists and engineers have been sought after in the world of
finance.) Physicist Emanual Derman, for example, who did brilliant research in
theoretical particle physics, moved on to the company Goldman Sachs,

eventually helping to develop the Black-Derman-Toy interest-rate model.
Derman eventually took charge of the firm’s Quantitative Risk Strategies group.

SUMMING IT UP

Brains mature at different speeds. Many people do not develop
maturity until their midtwenties.

Some of the most formidable heavyweights in science started out as
apparently hopeless juvenile delinquents.
One trait that successful professionals in science, math, and
technology gradually learn is how to chunk—to abstract key ideas.
Metaphors and physical analogies form chunks that can allow ideas

from very different areas to influence one another.
Regardless of your current or intended career path, keep your mind
open and ensure that math and science are in your learning repertoire.
This gives you a rich reserve of chunks to help you be smarter about
your approach to all sorts of life and career challenges.

PAUSE AND RECALL

Close the book and look away. What were the main ideas of this
chapter? You will find that you can recall these ideas more easily if you
relate them to your own life and career goals.