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Re:How to Understand Things by drorco on Saturday July 11, 2020 @05:49PM (#23806382)
Some people like to work their way in reverse. I'd often pick a really complicated subject I'm after like "stellar fusion" and then work my way downwards and learn whatever I need to learn in order to understand it. If I had to start from differential mathematics, without knowing why I need it, I'd probably give up.
Re:How to Understand Things by codersteve on Monday July 13, 2020 @06:57AM (#23819377)
This is the big problem I had with engineering in school, so much was based on faith that you needed it. And just now as I'm writing this, I realized that's completely counter to my personality.

side note: I remember Einstein needed to learn particular math skills to help prove his ideas and sought out to learn it.

Re:How to Understand Things by jddj on Saturday July 11, 2020 @08:08PM (#23807378)
Are there any notable teachers who take or have taken this approach?

I can't think of any from my education, everything was bottom up building. But when I self-teach (as it naturally emerges from pursuing projects related to work or hobbies) it's often top down digging.