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Social Studies skills: Difference between revisions
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* in economics, consumers believe they have myriad choices, when in actuality their consumer choices have little distinction from one another and, worse, are owned by only a few conglomerates (large businesses with many branches) | * in economics, consumers believe they have myriad choices, when in actuality their consumer choices have little distinction from one another and, worse, are owned by only a few conglomerates (large businesses with many branches) | ||
=== Inventor's paradox === | |||
* from mathematician George Pólya in "[[wikipedia:How_to_Solve_It|How to Solve It]]": | |||
** a phenomenon by which a solution to a particular problem is found by seeking a solution to another, more general problem | |||
*** and that investigation to the general problem yields a solution to the particular problem that was previously unapparent | |||
* the idea is to look beyond the immediate problem to a larger generality, then apply it backwards to the particular | |||
* in mathematics | |||
** to add all the numbers from 1-99 would be difficult to do in one's head | |||
** so, instead of thinking through 1+2=3, +4 = 7, +5 = 12, + 6 = 18 | |||
** we can "generalize" to adding numbers that add up to 100, as in | |||
*** 1+99 = 100, 2+98 = 200, 3+97= 100 | |||
*** we can then assume that there will be 49 such pairs of numbers, which = 4,900 (49 x 100) | |||
*** these pairs leave the number 50, so we have to add 50: 4,900 + 50 = 4,950 | |||
** see [[wikipedia:Inventor's_paradox|Inventor's paradox - Wikipedia]] | |||
* the less mathematically inclined might call it the "Lost Keys Paradox" | |||
=== Lost Keys Paradox === | |||
* the [[lost keys paradox]] is that when looking for where you put the keys, you will only find them when you go looking for something else, such as your glasses, or your phone | |||
* a possible explanation for the Lost Keys Paradox is that our focus of attention can be limited to a particular goal or activity, which, blinds us to alternative solutions | |||
** thus it is a form of confirmation bias | |||
* when freed of the bias of seeking one particular thing, we are more likely to discover the unexpected solution that we could not see while focused solely on that one thing | |||
* coined by [[User:Bromley|Michael Bromley]] | |||
=== Mediocrity paradox === | === Mediocrity paradox === | ||