Learning & explaining21 categories
Rebuild this concept from first principles
Something you use by rote and want to be able to derive rather than memorise.
Longfirst-principlesderivation
Derive the thing below from the ground up, so I could reconstruct it without memorising it. 1. State the problem being solved, before any solution exists. 2. State the constraints: what any solution must satisfy. 3. Try the obvious naive approach first, and show precisely where it fails. 4. Introduce each element of the real solution as the fix to a specific failure. I should never see a component appear without knowing what would break without it. 5. At the end, list every design decision and the alternative that was rejected, with the reason. 6. Tell me which parts are forced by the constraints and which are conventions that could have gone another way. Subject:
Making it yours
- Paste your own material where the prompt asks for it. Everything above that line is instruction, not content.
- Delete any rule that does not apply to you. A shorter prompt that fits beats a thorough one that does not.
- If the answer comes back vague, add a line saying what you do not want. Constraints work better than encouragement.
Explaining a concept. Getting an idea across at the depth you need, with analogies, origins and first principles.
Related prompts
Explain this at three levels of depthFirst contact with a concept, when you don't yet know how deep you need to go.What is the one idea that unlocks this?A subject where you have learned the parts but it still hasn't clicked.Give me an analogy, then tell me where it breaksWhen you want an intuition for something abstract without picking up a wrong model.Why does this exist at all?A tool, standard or convention whose design looks arbitrary until you know the history.Explain in one paragraphFirst contact with a topic, when you only have a few minutes.The one ideaA subject where you know the parts but it hasn't clicked.
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