Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: Feynman quotations

Your translation is very good, Antti. The quotations you cite are from
the chapter "Who Stole the Door" from Part 1 of SYJMF. One thing the
translation doesn't re-create is Feynman's sometimes unusual punctuation
patterns.

The first quotation is: "I don't know what's the matter with people:
they don't learn by understanding; they learn by some other way -- by
rote, or something. Their knowledge is so fragile!"

The second quotation is: "It was just like the guys in mechanical
drawing class, but this time it wasn't dumb freshmen. So this kind of
fragility is, in fact, fairly common, even with more learned people."

Best wishes,

Larry

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Larry Cartwright Retired Physics Teacher
<exit60@cablespeed.com> Charlotte MI 48813 USA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Teacher's Lament: I pointed out to you the stars,
and all you saw was the tip of my finger
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Antti wrote:

I need help with Feynman quotations=20
(these were not included in Gaither=92s list of=20
quotations in <http://angelfire.com/tx/StatBook>).=20
The quotations are from =93Surely You=92re Joking, Mr. Feynman=94;
I have a Finnish translation from that book.=20
The passage starts in p. 40(the Finnish version) just=20
after Feynman explains his MIT experiences on studying mathematics.
I translate from Finnish back into English:

=93I don=92t know what=92s wrong with people.=20
They don=92t learn by understanding. They learn=20
through some other way, by rote or something.=20
Their knowledge is so fragile.=94

And then Feynman goes on explaining how he asked
Einstein=92s assistant a question on relativity.=20
He concluds that story by saying (again,=20
my translation from p. 41):

=93Therefore this fragility is in fact common even among professional=
s.=94=20

Could someone provide the quotations with the exact reference?