Ask HN: When do you use brute force vs complexity to solve a problem?

5 pointsdiminium1 comment

For most problems we face, there's two major ways to solve it.

One is to slowly think of a solution covering all your bases and finding the most efficient way to do it. The other way is just to "throw money at the problem" and put more and more people to it until a solution appears.

How do you know when to use one vs the other? How and when did you learn this skill?

View on HN

In this kind of situation, I estimate for each kind of approach: (i) how many problem instances need to be solved, (ii) how complex the instances are, and (iii) what combination of resources (time, money, knowhow, ...) are available. These together give you the practical feasibility of the approaches.

To learn the skill, apply also the other approaches after the problem is solved. All the solutions you manage to produce give reference and verification anchors for your further efforts.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com