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Topic: Value of explanations (Read 428 times) |
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Grimbal
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Value of explanations
« on: Jun 16th, 2004, 3:55pm » |
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Quote:| Explaining how you arrived at an answer is more valuable than the answer itself. |
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How have you come to that conclusion? 
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pedronunezmd
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Re: Value of explanations
« Reply #1 on: Jun 16th, 2004, 7:08pm » |
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It is interesting to see how my opinion regarding that statement formed on this website. It goes along with the fact that there is no official posting of correct answers to the riddles here, only lengthy threads.
As probably all newbies are, I was very skeptical at first. However, when I started looking at the easy riddles, and read the thread to a riddle who's answer I "knew", I just about died laughing. It was "WILLYWUTANG AND THE BURNING ISLAND OF DOOM" which is still one of my all time favorites here.
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towr
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Re: Value of explanations
« Reply #2 on: Jun 17th, 2004, 12:59am » |
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on Jun 16th, 2004, 3:55pm, Grimbal wrote:| How have you come to that conclusion? |
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I'd say it's a value judgement
A very taoist thing to say I think, as in 'the path is more important than the destination' and that kind of thing..
Of course it's also true for many exams, you get more points for the explanation than for just the answer.
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Barukh
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Re: Value of explanations
« Reply #3 on: Jun 17th, 2004, 2:45am » |
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on Jun 16th, 2004, 3:55pm, Grimbal wrote:| How have you come to that conclusion? |
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To whom do you address this question? Do you agree with this conclusion?
I assume when saying “answer”, you mean “solution”, and not just yes/no, or 3.14 kind of reply.
IMHO, explaining how the answer was achieved – with all mistakes and pitfalls – is one of the most important and entertaining things. It really helps me to learn how others are reasoning. Unfortunately, this kind of things is done extremely rarely (including this site). 
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Grimbal
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Re: Value of explanations
« Reply #4 on: Jun 17th, 2004, 8:31am » |
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It was kind of a joke, actually.
There is an aparent contradiction between the statement that says to not just give a flat answer, and the fact that the statement itself is a flat statement without an explanation where it comes from.
But yes, I agree with it. Even when I know the answer, seeing how others solve or just approach the problem can be enlightening.
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rmsgrey
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Re: Value of explanations
« Reply #5 on: Jun 17th, 2004, 1:12pm » |
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Even without including all the false leads (and let's face it, from time to time someone does get lucky and hit the perfect solution immediately) there's still a definite advantage to the reader in seeing a complete solution rather than just a flat answer. Not to mention the fact that giving a full solution gives other people a chance to spot the "deliberate" mistakes - or confirm your results, whichever is appropriate!
And, while individual posts may not give much of a thought process, if you read some of the threads on more stubborn puzzles, you get a sense for the communal thought process behind the accepted solution (or leading to the current best). And there are quite a few threads where people have started out by following false leads, which again gives a sort of cross section of the solution process.
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