[hgibbs]

One problem solving approach which I adopted around the time that I was very frequently reading Terry's blog was to personify the problem as a combatant. For example, when trying to prove an inequality that seemed straightforward I would focus on how it could be false, and to then consider what structure the resulting 'conspiracy' of variables would have to have. I have a feeling that this is something that Terry did (and I emulated), but I can't remember a specific post.

He also has a very nice post on 'amplification and arbitrage' as tricks for strengthening inequalities.

[dxbydt]

> personify the problem as a combatant

I think this was also Albert Einstein's strategy. In the version we read in India, Young Einstein's uncle Jacob is supposed to have taught him Algebra in high school by "x is the animal you are hunting for"....finally after tracking the clues you find x and hunt him down.

Here's another version of Jacob - https://www.newscientist.com/letter/mg16922837-800-einsteins...

[lambdatronics]

Interesting. I wonder if personification is analogous to a "memory palace": it's a way to hijack our innate brain capacity for working on something more abstract. I've always felt like physics derivations were like mystery stories - the best ones had a surprise twist of reasoning that leads the detective to the solution from the scattered clues.