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Comment by dhughes | Hacker News Reader

I muddled through it learning electronics not realizing I was not quite understanding it, this helps.

Who was it that said something along the lines of " If you can describe a complex thing to someone briefly in simple terms that shows knowledge" Feynman? Einstein?

Whoever said that I find it profound because most people can learn something eventually but to know something, knowledge, I find close to impossible, very hard.

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This is probably not what you are thinking, but C.S. Lewis said, "Any fool can write learned language: the vernacular is the real test. If you can't turn your faith into it, then either you don't understand it or you don't believe it."

Similar and it's the gist of it. Understanding something well enough to teach it to someone who doesn't, some people seem to be able to learn enough to get by but not teach others what they are supposed to know.

> If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.

Perhaps this one? I pulled it from memory, even though I couldn't remember the author. Google attributes it to Einstien. But the interwebs misattributes quotes all the time, so take it with a grain of salt.

I think the term complex is massively overused. With a clear explanation many things are really quite simple. The difficulty in understanding something is far more likely to come from confusion in the instructor's mind than the student's.

I think this statement is complex.

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