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No, this comment on the blog is the closest so far to what I was talking about:

rjbond3rd: "I'm mangling the quote but what I've heard is: 'Tackle a difficult problem by redefining it as a series of solved problems.'"

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One of the most useful mental habits I know I learned from Michael Rabin: that the best way to solve a problem is often to redefine it.

http://www.paulgraham.com/ideas.html

That's kind of the way mathematics expands its knowledge base. Not always, of course. But it's a fine approach. It's an application of the KISS principle.

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