Cosine: The exact moment Jeff Bezos decided not to become a physicist

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  • Опубліковано 15 вер 2018

КОМЕНТАРІ • 3,9 тис.

  • @Mohan-ob6cr
    @Mohan-ob6cr 2 роки тому +18730

    Yashantha is the director of California Institute of Technology at present.

  • @VwapTrader
    @VwapTrader 3 роки тому +20877

    And that’s when he decided he’s going to open up an online bookshop, selling his old used physics books. And boy did he have a lot of physics books to sell.

    • @johnlewis6526
      @johnlewis6526 2 роки тому +510

      😂 I mean my dads first purchase in 96 on Amazon was a computer science book

    • @adln2
      @adln2 2 роки тому +30

      😂😂😂😂 👏👏

    • @user-jn1px7rp3h
      @user-jn1px7rp3h 2 роки тому +256

      legends tell that he still sells those physics books

    • @andy12829
      @andy12829 2 роки тому +8

      😂😂😂😂 epic

    • @SelyHaudy
      @SelyHaudy 2 роки тому +2

      lol

  • @EwenKing-Smith
    @EwenKing-Smith 8 місяців тому +4790

    When I studied for a Ph.D. in physics, I met a fellow student called Brian Josephson. In discussion with him, I realized my understanding was so far behind that after my Ph.D., I gave up physics. Some 10 years later, Brian won the Nobel Prize. Meeting such people can be very daunting!

    • @adityaghosh2539
      @adityaghosh2539 8 місяців тому +460

      So it's not necessary that you are lagging behind. It always depends on what we are comparing with. You know better than me

    • @udith
      @udith 8 місяців тому +14

      Wait what?!

    • @silasprins3861
      @silasprins3861 8 місяців тому +8

      Why is it daunting?

    • @charlesdartagnan8788
      @charlesdartagnan8788 8 місяців тому +106

      can you elaborate on this a bit? It seems so interesting. What was it that he knew that made you realise you weren't at his level? Couldn't you just study a bit more of what he studied and catch up? I'm a medical student and I really don't think we have that - for us it's just about volume of information rather than the kind of depth of pure understanding you seem to be describing. If you could explain this phenomenon to be a bit more I'd be really interested.

    • @EwenKing-Smith
      @EwenKing-Smith 8 місяців тому +136

      Good point! Of course, I did not realize that Brian would win a Nobel prize at the age of 33. If I had not met him, I might have thought myself a reasonably good scientist, rather than inferior, and continued in physics.

  • @gthompson58
    @gthompson58 Рік тому +2282

    Once upon a time in the 1970s in my college physics class my professor gave us a quiz. The quiz had three questions. We were all good enough at math to know that if we missed one problem it would result in a D. After a considerable amount of time had gone by and no one had turned in their quiz, one brave soul took his paper to the professor and showed it to him. “Oh!” He exclaimed. “Problem 3 can’t be solved.”

    • @xpusostomos
      @xpusostomos 8 місяців тому +44

      LoL

    • @cufflink44
      @cufflink44 8 місяців тому +234

      @gthompson58 That reminds me of an exercise in Serge Lang's famous (or infamous, depending on your POV) graduate-level textbook entitled simply "Algebra." At the end of Chapter VII there are nine problems for students to solve. The ninth of these is a problem about polynomials, which Lang prefaces with: "The answer to the following exercise is not known." 😂

    • @johan_va3642
      @johan_va3642 8 місяців тому +43

      That happened to me, complex variables exam, unsolvable integral in the exam found out after a couple hours

    • @thispersonrighthere9024
      @thispersonrighthere9024 8 місяців тому +50

      jeff: "bro, i'm dying! can you help me solve this?"
      yasantha: "ASIAN ADVANTAGE, *ACTIVATE!"*

    • @Idtelos
      @Idtelos 8 місяців тому +10

      Yep. Happens a lot in maths classes as well..I always thought of such questions as to something professors working or interested in and an easy way for them to see if someone else has some insight is for students to be tested on it...

  • @ClemensAlive
    @ClemensAlive 2 роки тому +17545

    Yashantha once got a receipt from Amazon.
    After he had a look at it, everything crossed out and Amazon owes him the money he spent.

  • @JudoP_slinging
    @JudoP_slinging 2 роки тому +13662

    As someone who also studied physics, spending fruitless hours in a group on one math problem is definitely an authentic experience.

    • @ceebad8985
      @ceebad8985 2 роки тому +27

      authentic?

    • @davidefilice5703
      @davidefilice5703 2 роки тому +438

      If you spend 3 hours on one problem it's an easy one.

    • @julianh1705
      @julianh1705 2 роки тому +176

      @@davidefilice5703 well 3 hours is pretty long but i get what u mean. The hardest math and physics problems can take days

    • @ChickenTandies
      @ChickenTandies 2 роки тому +109

      @@davidefilice5703 so true. In my propulsion class it took a bunch of us 8 hours to solve a problem. That was a nightmare lol.

    • @miguelangelpelaezdelafuent9528
      @miguelangelpelaezdelafuent9528 2 роки тому +50

      @@julianh1705 and decades.

  • @ashanmaynard4085
    @ashanmaynard4085 Рік тому +1703

    Fun fact: Even Yasantha didn't become a theoretical physicist. He is currently working as a Vice President of Research and AI
    Analog Inference(Santa Clara County, California, United States ). This shows us how hard is to become a great theoretical physicist.

    • @koyaxkaymak2183
      @koyaxkaymak2183 Рік тому +422

      He probably could’ve made it if he wanted to… it is not hard to get into phd/post doc/tenure if you are top of the class in Princeton…. Maybe he just found other passion

    • @ashanmaynard4085
      @ashanmaynard4085 Рік тому +128

      @@koyaxkaymak2183 May be. A guy like him in a prestigious university can get easily get into a theoretical physics Ph.D. program. But previously I've talked about the level of Schrodinger, Heisenberg, Dirac etc; These guys were in a different level.

    • @johnnychang3456
      @johnnychang3456 11 місяців тому +48

      Yes it’s super hard. It’s almost playing in the NBA level hard. Guys who are able to complete a physics phd is already like 1% smart of all people, and probably only 1/10th of the best ones become a theoretical physicist.

    • @ashanmaynard4085
      @ashanmaynard4085 11 місяців тому +133

      @@johnnychang3456 less than 0.1% theoretical physics PhD graduates will become to the level of Shrodinger. There is a huge difference between solving a selected problem in a PhD vs Making a whole new working theory like Dirac equation or Uncertainty principle.

    • @imtryinghere1
      @imtryinghere1 9 місяців тому +41

      Yasantha has like 20+ patents to his credit.

  • @Ducktility
    @Ducktility Рік тому +296

    I'm going from physics into finance. Never thought I'd be leaving physics. It's heart breaking.

    • @hemmoau
      @hemmoau 8 місяців тому +50

      Did the same thing. My father taught me about two approaches to life, if you want to chill work with something you love so you can be around it, if you're extremely ambitious work where you can leverage your skillset best and enjoy your hobbies in your free time (with all your extra resources).

    • @nidhishsharma9471
      @nidhishsharma9471 8 місяців тому

      Traitor

    • @Ducktility
      @Ducktility 8 місяців тому +5

      @@hemmoau A sound advice indeed!

    • @Axl124124
      @Axl124124 8 місяців тому +7

      @@hemmoau excellent advice. You need to be useful first and
      Make a decent living. All the rest you can do in your spare time.

    • @user-hp6ls8qy6d
      @user-hp6ls8qy6d 8 місяців тому +1

      At least you'll make decent money.

  • @falcodarkzz
    @falcodarkzz 5 років тому +13072

    Man, the amount of folk who thought they were good at physics that get the reality check at college is crazy. Good on Bezos for being honest about it!

    • @SummeRain783
      @SummeRain783 2 роки тому +815

      I agree. College physics is a whole different ball game entirely

    • @muninnsmith7958
      @muninnsmith7958 2 роки тому +466

      I too recieved this reality check.

    • @YassoKuhl
      @YassoKuhl 2 роки тому +649

      I didn't. I get it now in my PhD!

    • @madhavestark3173
      @madhavestark3173 2 роки тому +142

      @@YassoKuhl We will see...still in 4th year UG...going strong

    • @acertainayush
      @acertainayush 2 роки тому +762

      I think it really isn't about being good at it. It is about perseverance; keep trying until you actually get it.

  • @Phoenix-nh9kt
    @Phoenix-nh9kt 2 роки тому +4519

    Imagine getting to say that you wanted to become a theoretical physicist from Princeton and then just dip and become one of the richest men in the world.

    • @christopherg1288
      @christopherg1288 2 роки тому +75

      Ikr I wish I could study physics like that

    • @george45620
      @george45620 2 роки тому +61

      You mean the richest guy in the world

    • @OFFICALMENOFCULTURE
      @OFFICALMENOFCULTURE 2 роки тому +9

      Says something about physicist

    • @Phoenix-nh9kt
      @Phoenix-nh9kt 2 роки тому +26

      @@george45620 second richest after elon musk

    • @boltez6507
      @boltez6507 2 роки тому +15

      @@Phoenix-nh9kt *Richest*
      Elon is no longer in the top 3

  • @DonLee1980
    @DonLee1980 9 місяців тому +748

    I was great at math and physics. I loved it. I love how honest equations are, and how they can describe, infer, and estimate so many aspects of the world, the universe. But when I got to University and realised how many more hardcore people there are, and that a PhD would be a bare minimum to find work in this field. It awoke me.

    • @civilroman
      @civilroman 8 місяців тому +121

      "Well I guess it's time to learn JavaScript"

    • @gaius-juliuscaesar3979
      @gaius-juliuscaesar3979 7 місяців тому +9

      Yeah, I came here from a poor village and I don’t care how hard it would be for me to beat all of people like you and others in comments I will do that no matter cost I would pay for it. You never experienced hunger in your childhood probably and never saw the death in the eyes of your enemies, so left it for us and find a job somewhere there you will have competitive advantage. There’s millions people in the US who struggle like my family and it’s better for all of us if people like would care about them.

    • @DonLee1980
      @DonLee1980 7 місяців тому +57

      @@gaius-juliuscaesar3979 talk is cheap, let your actions do the talking.

    • @gaius-juliuscaesar3979
      @gaius-juliuscaesar3979 7 місяців тому

      @@DonLee1980 well you can’t see it through this platform, especially if we talk about math. Perelman even didn’t show up at the Noble Prize, when they gave him

    • @Kishblockpro
      @Kishblockpro 7 місяців тому +14

      @@gaius-juliuscaesar3979 Why can't we? Tell us about the problems you've solved, the progress you've made learning math or physics, I take you very seriously, and I know not to underestimate a determined person, but it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to work.

  • @GuitarsAndCars
    @GuitarsAndCars 2 роки тому +171

    Jeff Bezos actually needed to ask one more question after "you didn't just do that in your head?". He should have asked him how long it took to solve the first problem. Bezos had only spent 3 hours on the problem. Perhaps the similar problem took Yashantha way longer to solve. Richard Feynman discussed a similar situation in the book "Classic Feynman" in a chapter called Lucky Numbers. He details having a duel with an abacus salesman where the salesman challenges to find the cube root of 1729.03. Feynman coincidently knows a cubic foot has 1728 cubic inches so he knows the answer is 12.xxx. He then details how the 1.03 difference can be estimated at .002 and in short order he has 12.002 written down while the salesman is struggling just to come up with 12.0. Seeing Feynman ahead, he leaves in shame.

    • @astropgn
      @astropgn 8 місяців тому +7

      not wanting to break the magic for you, but most of feyman's stories about himself was way way exaggerated to make him feel like he was always way smarter than his fellows. He was definitely very smart, way smarter than any of us mere mortals. But if you read his books too much you'll believe he was surrounded by lesser ones, which is not true

    • @GuitarsAndCars
      @GuitarsAndCars 8 місяців тому +35

      @@astropgn Actually it's quite the contrary. Feynman specifically in this story told it to prove that what seemed like superior intelligence was merely coincidence. I don't know what books you think you read but all I have show Feynman to be quite humble and intent on showing his apparent intelligence was ordinary hard work and luck. But go on give some examples...

    • @williamrobinson4265
      @williamrobinson4265 8 місяців тому +2

      you seem to have misunderstood the point/tone of the story

    • @ethanpatch6840
      @ethanpatch6840 6 місяців тому +2

      @@astropgnFeynman admitted to only having decently above average IQ

    • @albertrichard3659
      @albertrichard3659 3 місяці тому +7

      Yeah,, I'm a grad student right now and it's very often the case that when someone solves a problem at an impossible speed, they either solved a similar problem before, or they used an approach that's extremely different from what you're trying. I've had an easy time in undergrad and grad physics this way, simply because I knew more math. I know a bit of functional analysis, not nearly enough to claim I know it to a mathematician without blushing, but enough to recognize it when it's used and see the 'big picture' because it's more or less an extension of lin alg. This barebones knowledge made me so much better in all my physics classes, because I don't think of Fourier expansions or infinite series as ersatz solutions, I think of them as vectors and basis expansions, and it makes a world of difference. Feynman is the poster child for this: advocating for his 'different set of tools'
      Even math research works this way. Very rarely does a big question get solved out of the blue, if at all. First you work on special cases and related problems to gain intuition for the problem. Then you realize why your solution can't be extended to the general case, so you repeat the process to find a solution that will extend to the general case. Without that experience, you're not getting anywhere. Furthermore, many problems are actually solved laterally: you borrow tools from other fields of math, or from scientists or engineers, and recast your problem in that new light, which often leads to a solution. That's why working on related problems is important.
      And then you have people like John Neumann who you'd think use different methods because of how fast and powerful they are, but no, they're just that good.

  • @neomacaleph597
    @neomacaleph597 2 роки тому +3450

    Just imagine if Yashantha would say “Yes I just did all in my mind” intentionally knowing that he just had that experience before. Oh boy, that would be totally different story! That’s why honesty is important virtue!

    • @markcarey67
      @markcarey67 2 роки тому +312

      That's the sort of thing Richard Feynman would have done. He was notorious for pretending he had miraculously and intuitively solved a problem on the spot which he had actually worked out in detail earlier.

    • @haziqi3517
      @haziqi3517 2 роки тому +1

      How hard is the problem?and what is it?

    • @99Davidcool
      @99Davidcool 2 роки тому +6

      How different?

    • @fake9895
      @fake9895 2 роки тому +181

      But remembering the core of a problem from three years ago is still impressive.

    • @Meeminator
      @Meeminator 2 роки тому +55

      I disagree. Jeff Bezos would have still been turned off of physics.

  • @matthewmullin8168
    @matthewmullin8168 2 роки тому +6153

    This is the issue with partial differential equations. There's literally no method to the madness - it's just a bunch of tricks that somehow work into a solution. Anyone who pretends otherwise is kidding themselves.

    • @JK-qy8le
      @JK-qy8le 2 роки тому +498

      It is not an issue. This is the way

    • @FractalMannequin
      @FractalMannequin 2 роки тому +114

      This can't be any truer.

    • @johannesmoerland5438
      @johannesmoerland5438 2 роки тому +395

      Well if it was in introductory quantum mechanics, it was probably separable or solvable with a Fourier transform

    • @anantsharma7955
      @anantsharma7955 2 роки тому +84

      Are you qualified to make a statement like this? (Not trying to be rude).

    • @johannesmoerland5438
      @johannesmoerland5438 2 роки тому +338

      @@anantsharma7955 I think I am :D I'm currently studying theoretical quantum optics.

  • @dou5689
    @dou5689 2 роки тому +297

    All my drop out friends have a similar story. Which is why I always tell junior students I used to be confused just like they are, it is just a natural part of academic life. The same thing applies to pretty much everything else in life, everything looks/feels difficult until it is not. Many of my friends realized it too late in life to go back to collage, I hope this video will not "inspire" more people to make the wrong choice.

    • @ageresequituresse
      @ageresequituresse 8 місяців тому +7

      This is the way.

    • @RCmies
      @RCmies 8 місяців тому +19

      Yes, all I get from this video is that because someone had solved a similar problem 3 years before and knew how it was done, he felt that he wasn't the best of the best anymore, which he couldn't accept. He needed to be the best. I wonder if he got upset when at some point Elon musk became richest man instead of him.

    • @lurven666
      @lurven666 6 місяців тому +10

      I'm not particulary good at math but I'm still going for a master soon and had not even done any math homework at the age of 23 (hs drop out).
      I'm never gonna be a researcher or an advanced mathematician.
      BUT damn has it thaught me to think and am I planning to get smarter with it!
      So yea, the important message here for me is that he was not the best but he was still taught how to think abstractically and used that like a champ to say the least.
      Hopefully I can be the best at something completely differentin in 10 years lol

    • @raggedybritches5798
      @raggedybritches5798 6 місяців тому

      @@lurven666 good luck!

    • @theultimatereductionist7592
      @theultimatereductionist7592 6 місяців тому

      By "realized it too late", are you saying they SHOULD go back to college?

  • @YouAREyoubeYou
    @YouAREyoubeYou Місяць тому +4

    My son just got accepted to MIT research program for theoretical physics. He has a 3.93 gpa in physics. He is amazing at math as well-I’m a proud mom❤️

  • @ks-dd7gv
    @ks-dd7gv 2 роки тому +5721

    People are taking the wrong message from this. The real message is how problems in the real world are solved. Most problems that we marvel at are not solved by raw creativity, but rather by pattern recognition: by mapping new problems to already solved problems.

    • @RHBTurbochargers
      @RHBTurbochargers 2 роки тому +131

      yes, learning the process of solving seemingly insurmountable problems gets you there

    • @will01819
      @will01819 2 роки тому +243

      Thats why a good portion of the IQ test is pattern recognition

    • @themightypotato3857
      @themightypotato3857 2 роки тому +232

      no, they're not getting the wrong message. the most obvious human message here is to be honest with yourself and your abilities and to allocate your resources where they fit best. you will never outperform someone who was born with a universe-given talent in mathematics (or whatever else). no matter how much work you put in. but you maybe have abilities that godly mathematician doesn't have and it would be a shame to let them go to waste just to make a point. yours is quite an important point too though.
      edit: unless it's your passion of course. then you should probably follow it regardless of whether you have talent or not. as long as you're good enough to sustain your life with it.

    • @sandmand4036
      @sandmand4036 2 роки тому +84

      Pretty sure the message is that Bezos felt he was too stupid to be a good theoretical physicist. Idk thats kinda what i got

    • @abuDA-bt6ei
      @abuDA-bt6ei 2 роки тому +1

      Every math class ever

  • @jeremiahnoar7504
    @jeremiahnoar7504 2 роки тому +2291

    That sounds like the answer to a fake math question in a Hollywood movie where the student reveals to the professor how secretly brilliant he is.

    • @ArnoldBlues
      @ArnoldBlues 2 роки тому +303

      I assume there’s some truth to the story, but not the solution. Simply ‘cosine’ isn’t a solution. It would be like saying the answer to an expression was “plus”.

    • @Pharomid
      @Pharomid 2 роки тому +436

      @@ArnoldBlues cos(x) probably

    • @aayushdhungana360
      @aayushdhungana360 2 роки тому +85

      @@Pharomid yea like thats obvious....plus and cosine arent same

    • @veloce5491
      @veloce5491 2 роки тому +104

      it isnt. pretty much all these advanced problems just have a bunch of stuff crossing out resulting in simple solution.

    • @SandraWantsCoke
      @SandraWantsCoke 2 роки тому +13

      It's not your fault

  • @JM-us3fr
    @JM-us3fr 2 роки тому +277

    Still story is kinda funny, but it’s mostly depressing. As a burgeoning mathematician, I’ve seen several friends drop out of my master’s program precisely because I solved a problem they couldn’t solve. Some have had serious existential crises just trying to cope with this.
    If you are currently experiencing this, then I’d like to tell you: you don’t need to be the greatest in your field to still love that field. Despite being one of the top students in my program, I recognize I will never be as great as those mathematicians whose skills have been crafted from birth and whose brains were so meticulously molded by chance to be optimal for mathematics. Nonetheless, I love mathematics, and I will contribute what little I can for the pure joy of being apart of something bigger. I’ll never be the best, or even the top 100, but nothing will stop me from doing what I love, and I would encourage you to do the same.

    • @GT-tj1qg
      @GT-tj1qg Рік тому +28

      Don't tell them whatever you just said.
      Tell them this:
      "I have just done a lot of maths, that's all. I've done thousands of hours of maths."

    • @JM-us3fr
      @JM-us3fr Рік тому +12

      @@GT-tj1qg That's essentially what Bezos's friend said. In fact it might be even more humble, since seeing a specific problem that happened to be similar to their problem could have been a coincidence, while having put in an ungodly amount of hours into studying math might appear supernatural.

    • @erikals
      @erikals 8 місяців тому +8

      i have no special talents. i am only passionately curious - Albert Einstein

    • @LAX3
      @LAX3 6 місяців тому +1

      But it is demotivating though, everyone had an ego and some are too broken to continue.

    • @sploofmcsterra4786
      @sploofmcsterra4786 6 місяців тому +8

      @@GT-tj1qg For real. It's especially important for people to realise it's not a competition of innate mathematical ability. That millenium prize problem was solved by a mathematician who just happened to have expertise in all the areas needed to solve the problem that very few if any others had on the planet. You don't need to compete with anyone when you're driving your research and playing to your strengths. I've tried explaining the (in my opinion very simple) ideas underpinning my research to my "genius" math friends in physics, and they just stare at me blankly. In fact they often have as much insight as people outside of physics. At least in my area, being able to hold those concepts in your head to drive your research is incredibly important. Sure if I come across maths that I'm rusty on it slows me down, but it's certainly not worth as much as you would think coming away from university coursework.

  • @pedroricardomartinscasella641
    @pedroricardomartinscasella641 8 місяців тому +67

    As someone currently studying to become a theoretical physicist, I can relate to that experience, pain is definitely a part of the process

    • @KevinS47
      @KevinS47 5 місяців тому +3

      Same here, your comment made me laugh a little dad it’s definitely a painful process lol

  • @thomas.02
    @thomas.02 2 роки тому +415

    To paraphrase a snarky finance professor,
    He wanted to become a physicist but instead became rich. Life just doesn’t work out for you sometimes.

    • @geddon436
      @geddon436 2 роки тому +2

      did you get a finace degree?

    • @thomas.02
      @thomas.02 2 роки тому +4

      @@geddon436 no I study in a completely different field, I paraphrased this video around the 4:10 mark
      ua-cam.com/video/omgx5OjjwPo/v-deo.html

    • @Derek.Mitchell
      @Derek.Mitchell 2 роки тому +7

      I didn't know this until recently but the the most reliable way to make 500k/yr on Wall Street is to first get a PhD in math or physics

    • @duykhanh7746
      @duykhanh7746 2 роки тому +1

      poor guy...

    • @lacku2677
      @lacku2677 2 роки тому +13

      @@Derek.Mitchell Yeah but usually math PhDs have more interest in their subject rather than making money.

  • @Elmatador964
    @Elmatador964 2 роки тому +1248

    I heard Yosantha once solved for the meaning of life.. it all crossed out and said ASK ALEXA.

  • @REAL2222ful
    @REAL2222ful 8 місяців тому +17

    Meanwhile Yashanta:
    "Let me tell you about this one time when my dad set up a lemonade stand for me... that's when I knew I'd never become a salesman so I'd better get good a Maths and Physics".

  • @bigtime8924
    @bigtime8924 2 роки тому +17

    The moment I knew I wasn’t gonna become a physicist is when I couldn’t complete the macaroni picture before recess.

  • @Mikebigmike94
    @Mikebigmike94 2 роки тому +1773

    I think you’ll only reach a high level in physics if you have that passion to want to know how the universe ticks. No matter what set backs you have you’ll always keep going no matter what. Not being able to solve one problem doesn’t define anyone.

    • @htchamber2776
      @htchamber2776 2 роки тому +20

      The universe doesn’t rock on physics it’s just a bunch of useless math

    • @tyl3r43eight
      @tyl3r43eight 2 роки тому +258

      @@htchamber2776 Do you also believe the earth is a dinner plate?

    • @ZeroThyStrange
      @ZeroThyStrange 2 роки тому +78

      @@htchamber2776 IMO that's very exaggerated and incorrect, physics is pretty much (almost like mike said) science wich studies the universe and how it ticks, saying it's useless math is just incorrect.

    • @troyharder7337
      @troyharder7337 2 роки тому +117

      @@htchamber2776 and this bunch of useless math allowed you to type that

    • @Mikebigmike94
      @Mikebigmike94 2 роки тому +47

      @@troyharder7337 good response. I remember some friends saying to me studying maths is pointless and useless in the real world. It’s funny because they sent me the message using a mobile phone which they use daily. Which I’m going to go out on a whim and say the technology behind using phones is heavily maths based. Just like the video games they waste their time on uses a hell of a lot of maths. I could go on!

  • @girl-qp7kn
    @girl-qp7kn 2 роки тому +877

    "The exact moment Jeff Bezoz decided to become a billionaire"

  • @cufflink44
    @cufflink44 2 роки тому +312

    I had a similar experience. Years ago I was enrolled in a graduate math program at a prestigious university. I was taking a course in abstract algebra, and I had posed a question to myself about group theory. I filled up three notebooks with attempts at a solution and got nowhere. One evening I'm walking back from class to the subway station with a fellow student, a guy I had reason to think was brilliant, and I tell him about the problem I'm trying to solve. He says, "Hmm. That's interesting. Let's see . . ." And as we're walking together, he's thinking out loud . . . and in about 30 seconds he's got the solution, doing it all in his head. That was the moment I knew I'd never be a creative mathematician, and that my talents lay elsewhere.

    • @Avicenna10
      @Avicenna10 2 роки тому +44

      Great story. I have a similar one during the one year I spent in graduate school in physics before figuring out it wasn’t for me. I was taking the required mathematical methods for physicists class that all first year physics graduate had to take. In that class was one undergraduate kid who we quickly determined who is the smartest person in the class. I remember one day the professor was doing some very intricate problem on the blackboard and I was trying to take notes and process what he was saying all at the same time, as was everyone else. But this one kid was just sitting there with his arms crossed staring at the board. The professor noticed this and asked him, “don’t you think you should be writing this down?” The undergraduate’s response: “No, I don’t need to.” The scary part was that it was true. I knew after meeting this guy that I wasn’t cut out for this line of work.

    • @xpusostomos
      @xpusostomos 8 місяців тому +27

      I kinda think, if you were born to do something, you don't even need to go to university, you'll just absorb it from pure enthusiasm

    • @RCmies
      @RCmies 8 місяців тому +2

      People's brains work differently

    • @khoitran8467
      @khoitran8467 7 місяців тому +13

      @@RCmies incorrect. People’s brain are trained differently. Genetics may have a factor, but how you develop your own brain and thinking greatly influences your perspective on numerous things.

    • @TigerAlert
      @TigerAlert 6 місяців тому +6

      What if the dude already solved the problem and was trying to flex in front of you

  • @alexanderchenf1
    @alexanderchenf1 8 місяців тому +2

    Then he founded a conglomerate that would eventually employ that Sri Lankan genius for space exploration and AI

  • @buffman6947
    @buffman6947 2 роки тому +1299

    “3 hours” 😂 as if that’s a lot for a physics problem

    • @anttiasikainen3124
      @anttiasikainen3124 2 роки тому +82

      Yeah I thought of that too. And he said it like it was a big deal, too.

    • @steliostoulis1875
      @steliostoulis1875 2 роки тому +37

      He was in honors class in Princeton...

    • @justinbrah627
      @justinbrah627 2 роки тому +133

      @Kaptein Kok ive spent 7 hours on a problem before. gave up and went on chegg.

    • @speedspeed121
      @speedspeed121 2 роки тому +53

      @Kaptein Kok I'm graduating in June. In any physics class, it can easily take three hours. It can take an entire day. Having said that, if it takes too long, you go to the TAs for help.

    • @TasX
      @TasX 2 роки тому +29

      @@justinbrah627 I’m not proud of this, but I rarely spend over 10 minutes before going online… then not finding the solution online since every textbook solution site is now behind a paywall

  • @prawtism
    @prawtism 2 роки тому +670

    I expected the story to go like: "I paid the smartest guy in my university 10 dollars for solving a problem impossible for me, that's when I realized I should be an entrepreneur"

    • @Terranova339
      @Terranova339 2 роки тому +4

      Thats not what an entrepreneur primarely does, you sound stupid

    • @prawtism
      @prawtism 2 роки тому +18

      @@Terranova339 Elon Musk does that and has said it in several videos. Of course if the problems are simple as in average entrepreneurship, there is no point in paying smart people.

    • @MarlonBitoy
      @MarlonBitoy 2 роки тому +4

      The rules of capitalism don’t apply to academics, Bezos would’ve been expelled or disciplined immediately

    • @awesomebearaudiobooks
      @awesomebearaudiobooks 2 роки тому +7

      ​@@MarlonBitoy Rules of Capitalism do apply in academia in Capitalist countries, unfortunately.
      In Soviet Russia, yes, buying someone's solution would've been a serious offence. You could ask for help, and giving help was also encouraged, but you weren't allowed to buy or sell it.
      In Capitalist Russia, however, buying someone else's homework, coursewoks and even entire thesis is a frequent deal. It's terrible, but that's how Capitalism is, it twistes everything it touches. In fact, I personally know many students who buy every single coursework every single year, sometimes even with their parents' money.

    • @riteshyeddu9186
      @riteshyeddu9186 2 роки тому +1

      @@awesomebearaudiobooks idk about courseworks, but I do know people who just bought a college seat with their parents' money

  • @jshepard152
    @jshepard152 8 місяців тому +2

    I had a very similar experience and I'm so glad I changed career tracks. I've found my passion in food and fun, and have no regrets at all in my current role as Head Cheeser at my local Papa John's.

  • @WarofThoughts
    @WarofThoughts 5 місяців тому +6

    There is a similar anecdote about Feynman I believe. He inadvertently saw the question before it was posed and he managed to solve it. By the time it was presented, he went up and dazzled the audience by solving such a difficult problem in a matter of seconds.

  • @RUdigitized
    @RUdigitized 2 роки тому +2348

    “... but what I was really great at was getting employees to piss in bottles and deficate in bags”

    • @thelight6496
      @thelight6496 2 роки тому +50

      and that is amazing
      NOT KIDDING

    • @apc9714
      @apc9714 2 роки тому +107

      Talents are talents

    • @LuthandoDlomo
      @LuthandoDlomo 2 роки тому +37

      WHAAAAT!? american employees even have to poo in bags?? There’s something not right about that 😂

    • @balen7555
      @balen7555 2 роки тому +16

      @@LuthandoDlomo wdym? are you telling me employees don't defecate in bags? hmmm, I am surprised... :P

    • @fatweeb1545
      @fatweeb1545 2 роки тому +124

      I do that without being employed.

  • @crimpers5543
    @crimpers5543 2 роки тому +354

    Reminds me of an electricity and magnetism problem during my college physics studies. I asked one of the smarter students for help with the problem and he magically pulled out a trig function out of nowhere to solve the problem. In hindsight, it's so obvious, but in the moment? Not so much. He's since went on to complete his Physics PhD.

    • @honkhonk8009
      @honkhonk8009 2 роки тому +23

      I mean that shit happens so much tho, even in highschool math. Teachers always pull some shit like that.

    • @trongtue8384
      @trongtue8384 2 роки тому

      @@honkhonk8009 yeah you easy to messed up when dont have a good background

    • @honkhonk8009
      @honkhonk8009 2 роки тому

      @@trongtue8384 What do you exactly mean by good background?
      I mean when teachers skim over obscure details and dont even tell you to remember them for the test. Bad teaching.

    • @trongtue8384
      @trongtue8384 2 роки тому

      @@honkhonk8009 Oh that happen in my coutry as usually when teacher thought all the class are the same level as the student backgourd

    • @labradoodle28
      @labradoodle28 8 місяців тому +7

      Perhaps you helped that smarter student and gave him the confidence to go get the PhD. There are many people who don’t have the confidence or determination unless something sparked him or her the demonstrate it.

  • @koifish523
    @koifish523 2 роки тому +68

    I believe that in maths and physics, especially at the higher levels, it is more important to be able to sit with a difficult question for a long time, go through the process and be able to eventually figure it out. It is very impressive to have the application exhibited by Yashantha but I don't think that it is what will make someone a good mathematician or physicist. I think that it is a slow uphill battle where you need to try out the different methods that you have and are good at. This is just my view and takes no credit away from Yashantha and the pattern recognition ability that he displays. It is certainly important but I don't think that will take you to the edge of our knowledge of maths and physics so I don't believe that this would be the only thing that caused Bezos to stop, simply because one person could remember a question they had previously answered and possibly struggled with then.

    • @photoballa
      @photoballa Рік тому +7

      Yeah but what people seem to not notice is. Bezos say’s he is “smart”.
      However, he says he saw this question 3 years ago. If you have seen a problem similar to it, it’s easy.
      It comes down to practice and not intelligence, he didn’t just guess or anything, it’s practice, to be the best or top you have to put in the hours, just like Yoshanta did to recognise. It’s just like chess, you play it so much you see the patterns again and again or just like past papers. It’s simple, why blow stuff of as “smarts” when you can be the best by putting in the work.

    • @hyperruliad
      @hyperruliad 8 місяців тому

      u that dude in geohot's server

    • @exnihilonihilfit6316
      @exnihilonihilfit6316 6 місяців тому +2

      ​@@photoballaI think the thing that did it for Bezos was precisely that the boy had dealt with such problem THREE YEARS AGO, in high school.

    • @scepticalchymist
      @scepticalchymist 6 місяців тому +1

      Well, one thing is to tackle problems appearing in the study process, yet another thing is to tackle problems appearing in research. They are practically totally unrelated. If you can solve your research problem by applying something from your former study problem sets, then that is nice in terms of efficiency, but probably quite boring research as well.

    • @zengjanezhu
      @zengjanezhu 5 місяців тому

      I disagree. At such high level, raw intelligence is the key. Even Einstein was frustrated that he did not know enough math to have a unified theory for physics. Einstein basically published all his ground breaking papers in his youth, and for the rest of his life, he pretty much struggled.

  • @JayZX2000
    @JayZX2000 8 місяців тому +1

    One of my friends is a physics buff, so I had the advantage with coming to terms with my inability to do well in physics early into high school (I still got 4’s on both AP Physics C exams tho, i wanted to leave this subject on a high note)

  • @kimaudreymagan484
    @kimaudreymagan484 3 роки тому +755

    1 homework problem for three hours is interesting.

    • @skyrat2594
      @skyrat2594 3 роки тому +142

      That was me in calc 2.

    • @centralprocessingunit2564
      @centralprocessingunit2564 3 роки тому +7

      @@skyrat2594 😂🤣

    • @alisw81
      @alisw81 3 роки тому +71

      @Alpha Omega Yep. I'm in my second year of physics graduate school and every class has made me realize how watered down my undergraduate education was.

    • @shivam.maharshi
      @shivam.maharshi 2 роки тому +130

      In CS for algorithm interview practice sometime you have to spend 10 hours solving/coding one question. Once you crack it, you can code 10 similar questions in 3-4 hours. Persistence is really the key in breaking mental barriers.

    • @amir3515
      @amir3515 2 роки тому +74

      @@shivam.maharshi exactly, in learning programming, every task has the potential to be an all day affair. I'm soon graduating and programming has taught me how limited our time is and that we can't learn everything but only a few things we choose to focus on in our lifetime. Time is so precious..

  • @sylvesteroutze9760
    @sylvesteroutze9760 2 роки тому +108

    This sounds like a teacher i have. He told us When we got back our end of the year test that He had made up one of the questions in a dream He had.

    • @ic3134
      @ic3134 2 роки тому

      LMAOOXDD

    • @archockencanto1645
      @archockencanto1645 2 роки тому

      Bruh

    • @gokuafrica
      @gokuafrica 2 роки тому +3

      I was once stuck on a problem in my maths class. I couldn't solve it and dreamt about how to get it done. The next day I used the formula in my dream to solve the question and also discovered that the formula I had supposedly invented was already there in the book 😂. I think it was a formulae to calculate the diagonals of an n sided polygon. I was in 5th or 6th grade.

    • @markfryer9880
      @markfryer9880 2 роки тому

      It can happen because your brain is free from immediate distractions while you sleep.

  • @bbsara0146
    @bbsara0146 8 місяців тому +6

    I once took a class and felt bad that I was the dumbest one in the class. But 6 out of the 10 kids were math olympiad gold medalists who had been doing math since they were young kids

  • @theloosemoose8200
    @theloosemoose8200 3 місяці тому +5

    Reminds me of the time i stumbled upon a chalk board with a mathematical equation while I was mopping the floor in a prestigious university..

  • @Checkthisontube
    @Checkthisontube 2 роки тому +117

    Just 3 hours ? We had entire weekends of getting nowhere.

    • @gamesandtech2347
      @gamesandtech2347 2 роки тому +3

      That is why you are getting nowhere, you should have just told your topper do it and realising you can't do should have started the billionaire journey by today you might have been become millionaire

    • @jasondads9509
      @jasondads9509 2 роки тому

      Its not the 3 hours that was the issue, it was that his friend looked at it for 5 seconds and got the answer

    • @Checkthisontube
      @Checkthisontube 2 роки тому

      @@jasondads9509
      I was referring to the point that he didn't make progress for 3 hours.
      This is a common thing that you get stuck for hours or days till you find the next step to solve a problem.

    • @Checkthisontube
      @Checkthisontube 2 роки тому +3

      @@jasondads9509
      He got the answer because he invested this time prior.
      He said it was a question he already had solved prior to this.

    • @joaoduarteazevedo2818
      @joaoduarteazevedo2818 2 роки тому

      @@Checkthisontube sometimes the right solution just pops in your head, but always when you can't have a pencil nearby xD

  • @SuperNovaJinckUFO
    @SuperNovaJinckUFO 2 роки тому +867

    You know that 3 years ago thing is a good analogy for percieved intelligence. Instead of raw brain power, intelligence is more the ability to make connections between distant things. It's the ability to draw on past experience, and transfer it to the present situation. Oftentimes I feel like a fraud when I solve a problem, because I've just solved similar problems before (bonus points if it wasn't even me that came up with the solution). But that's pretty much how intelligence works. It's less so about finding the solution, and more about asking the right question. However, I'd argue Bezos was being too hard on himself in this situation, since he didn't have the same experience as the other dude. Then again, that's probably indicative of a lack of real passion for the field. When you're really interested in something, you pursue it under your own fruition, and it's easy to remember.

    • @hihello8771
      @hihello8771 2 роки тому +7

      Heritability of IQ is 60% in childhood 80 % in adulthood. Wilson effect is the phenomenon where IQ becomes more genetic as you age. Google the fadeout effect for a metanalysis on how attempts made to meet parity between kids of different SES levels; failed to see it last into adulthood.

    • @artomix7
      @artomix7 2 роки тому +39

      That's not how intelligence works IMO, that's what I'd call being book smart. Intelligence would be being able to solve problems without having solved any similar previous problems, where your thinking must be purely original. And it's not bad to be book smart of course, but I think there's a massive difference between the two.

    • @drewkavi6327
      @drewkavi6327 2 роки тому +2

      Exactly this

    • @longsteinpufferbatch4949
      @longsteinpufferbatch4949 2 роки тому +3

      Kinda agree what you said

    • @thorodinson6649
      @thorodinson6649 2 роки тому +20

      @@artomix7 your opinion doesn’t really matter

  • @pabanoid
    @pabanoid 8 місяців тому +2

    One of the true quality most people don't have, Self awareness.

  • @thetributary8089
    @thetributary8089 2 роки тому +6

    I just whispered Yosanta and my dog became a math.

  • @ziii2
    @ziii2 2 роки тому +256

    Starting my Phys Degree next month and UA-cam brings me here.

    • @Linterna001
      @Linterna001 2 роки тому +10

      Hope you do it. I want to study physics in university.

    • @BryWMac
      @BryWMac 2 роки тому +10

      just because he's a billionaire doesn't mean he's right about everything. early specialization isn't the main variable. if you like what you do, the average career is 80,000 hours. That should be enough to make it to the frontier of your field or at least know it well enough to apply it to industry.

    • @helloa2508
      @helloa2508 2 роки тому +21

      Just remember cosine and you'll be fine

    • @ChristopherRockhill
      @ChristopherRockhill 2 роки тому +1

      You can do it.

    • @sg-ck2oh
      @sg-ck2oh 2 роки тому

      Good luck!!!!!

  • @colinpierce4967
    @colinpierce4967 2 роки тому +642

    I hope a naive bright mind doesn't interpret this too literally

    • @nikolas2987
      @nikolas2987 2 роки тому +4

      😏

    • @krzysztof6123
      @krzysztof6123 2 роки тому +7

      Could you elaborate?

    • @talalalhu
      @talalalhu 2 роки тому +258

      @@krzysztof6123 I think they mean that you should never give up because you’re not literally at the par of the best person within one of the best universities in the world, the story was told mostly as a funny story and not a lesson one, i’m sure there are actually greater reasons that he left the field but it probably wont make a funny story

    • @ldahmy
      @ldahmy 2 роки тому +12

      @@talalalhu true that. But at the same time u need an objective view of of things and question if what ur doing is what u really want so u don't end up like the rest who quit. Also don't set the bar too high for you too handle.

    • @ravinnovate
      @ravinnovate 2 роки тому +3

      True. We need more scientists in the world right now than ever before.

  • @1NEFFIBLE
    @1NEFFIBLE 8 місяців тому

    "I was able to map that problem on this problem". Superb!
    And that is why two is Always better than one. 😉

  • @TDChandrasekhar
    @TDChandrasekhar 8 місяців тому +3

    Exact moment which tells us what true love for a subject is vs wanting to succeed in it..

  • @UltimateIrishRebel
    @UltimateIrishRebel 2 роки тому +1031

    It's amazing how intelligent you have to be to grapple with the most difficult physics questions...you can be brilliant at physics all through school and beginning college, and then you seemingly just hit a wall lol.

    • @nofurtherwest3474
      @nofurtherwest3474 2 роки тому +110

      Someday everyone will know advanced physics. Just as today many high schoolers take physics and calculus, a thousand years ago teenagers did not. So a thousand years from now most teenagers will learn what today seems very advanced. Everyone will essentially have high level scientific and engineering knowledge as a default. Which will be necessary as humans become space faring.

    • @niks660097
      @niks660097 2 роки тому +149

      @@nofurtherwest3474 dude, i highly doubt that given the level of stupidity in our race, good scientists/researchers are like 0.00001% of populations, without them we'll be in dark ages in months..

    • @appa609
      @appa609 2 роки тому +103

      A thousand years ago someone of your mindset would argue that everyone will eventually know how to write in Latin

    • @adrien8572
      @adrien8572 2 роки тому +72

      @@nofurtherwest3474 We don't need all people to know advanced science. We need people to work in all various fields from cooking to cleaning the street. That's why no one should be ashamed to not be the smartest person, we are all usefull to some extent (ok some people are useless). We are all contributing to the progress of humanity.
      Although, what you said is, i think, quite true. If we automize a lot of activities we maybe will have more people doing research.

    • @toastybatch565
      @toastybatch565 2 роки тому +37

      @@adrien8572 nobody should be ashamed of not being smart, but it would be nice if the dumbest people did not overpower the smartest.

  • @guimtarist
    @guimtarist 2 роки тому +204

    Maybe that yosanto guy faced the same thing kept trying for hours took breaks but just didn't give up and finally came up with the answer.. and then he was able to solve jeff's problem instantly only because he worked through that previous problem and recognised the similar pattern of the problem.

    • @jatinsinghyadav5941
      @jatinsinghyadav5941 2 роки тому +13

      Obviously, but that's not what he his talking about . he means he wasn't going to become a good or a great theoretical physicist

    • @hamedgholami3664
      @hamedgholami3664 2 роки тому +18

      You don't get the point. Nobody become someone if he did not put on hours. the question for everyone of us is are you ready to put on same amount of hours?

    • @jatinsinghyadav5941
      @jatinsinghyadav5941 2 роки тому +1

      @@hamedgholami3664 that's not how it works.you can't be a above average iq kid and become a great physicist or mathematicians

    • @gokuafrica
      @gokuafrica 2 роки тому +31

      @@jatinsinghyadav5941 such bs logic. By believing in that statement, you're putting a ceiling on your potential. You judge your intelligence based on a controversial test which has rarely translated into meaningful results. Dream big and act on it, don't stop until it is done. And don't forget to take help along the way. That's how to live life!

    • @jatinsinghyadav5941
      @jatinsinghyadav5941 2 роки тому +4

      @@gokuafrica some things are just truth .it's best to realize your strength and weakness and realize your limits.the thing about romanticising your dreams and passions don't always work in real life.iq doesn't mean everything but it means something,people should know that

  • @siraltitude2
    @siraltitude2 2 роки тому

    This is an underrated video. Sometimes it really is best to give up

  • @jennasabourin8179
    @jennasabourin8179 5 місяців тому +17

    This was incredibly relieving to hear. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who struggles with academics, especially in these upper level STEM courses. Good to know this is just apart of it.

    • @argynkuketayev4166
      @argynkuketayev4166 4 місяці тому

      are you sure you got his message? if you're struggling in what someone is not then quit it and do something else

    • @rysiokowalski7194
      @rysiokowalski7194 2 місяці тому +1

      @@argynkuketayev4166 If the whole world was thinking that way, we would still be living in caves.

    • @argynkuketayev4166
      @argynkuketayev4166 2 місяці тому

      @@rysiokowalski7194 au contraire, we'd be more productive if people developed their talents instead of struggling pointlessly

  • @speedspeed121
    @speedspeed121 2 роки тому +33

    I just finished my second quarter of quantum mechanics. I can confirm that it can take well over three hours to solve one HW problem.

  • @alexzan1858
    @alexzan1858 2 роки тому +171

    3h on a single problem? thats cute.
    Regards, a theoretical phycisist

    • @kawi7676
      @kawi7676 2 роки тому +48

      @@jabo0190 pffft no. He’s not a real physicist. Just a theoretical one.

    • @JM1675
      @JM1675 2 роки тому +21

      @@jabo0190 In theory, he is.

    • @Mac-hr9rg
      @Mac-hr9rg 2 роки тому +2

      @@JM1675 lmao

    • @jeffthevomitguy1178
      @jeffthevomitguy1178 2 роки тому +4

      @@JM1675 theoretically

    • @Victoria_Orlova
      @Victoria_Orlova 2 роки тому

      high horse boi

  • @Krranski
    @Krranski 2 роки тому +10

    I wanted to do pure mathematics. On the way, I had an advanced calculus class (like calc 6, if one is counting, even though sequence loses meaning at that point; but it was an upper division class). What got to me was when a high school freshman was taking the course, doing better than everyone, while I was staying up nights and working for days on the five or six homework questions we got every week or two. It was rough to meet my limit. I still passed with a good grade and finished my math minor, but that class was the toughest I have taken, by far, even through graduate school in atmospheric science.

    • @absolutezero6190
      @absolutezero6190 2 роки тому

      was it analysis

    • @Krranski
      @Krranski 2 роки тому

      @@absolutezero6190 I heard it called "Analysis 2" a few times in there. It didn't help that I never took the preceding course; it wasn't listed as a prerequisite. We used Fleming's "Functions of Several Variables", a funny yellow book that caught people's eye, perhaps because I was always fretting over it.
      The bulk of the course was spent proving calculus stuff in an arbitrary number of finite dimensions. So I got jumped into topology and manifolds and chaos theory while in there, too. It was a whole lot more than I bargained for in my first math class out of community college.
      The professor was a wonderful person, very brilliant and patient and understanding. He was really inspiring even though I was hanging on by my fingernails.
      The next semester, I did some independent study type of work with him related to chaos theory and attractors (specifically the Lorenz attractor) since I am in the atmospheric sciences and chaos and the "Butterfly Effect" are big things in numerical weather and climate prediction. It was a great experience, but super challenging.

    • @absolutezero6190
      @absolutezero6190 2 роки тому +2

      @@Krranski that's really cool. I'm excited but nervous to learn some of that stuff in college. I have one of those yellow books myself, and I started trying to read it, but it's so dry and formal that it became quite difficult. Plus the exercises can range from "really easy" to "you can spend days and not get anywhere," and since there are no solutions, you feel kind of like an idiot lol

    • @Krranski
      @Krranski 2 роки тому

      @@absolutezero6190 Have a good time learning it! Seriously, it can be a blast, even if you only can barely keep up. It took me a HUGE amount of time, but I still loved it because I enjoyed learning the material.
      And I totally agree with you on the text and exercises. The writing is about as concise as one can be, with almost no examples, and I found the problems to be exactly as you describe lol. Truly, I sometimes spent a few days on a single problem, sometimes never answering them completely. So, you're not alone. Make friends in the class, if you can (I had a hard time with that, tbh; I am extremely reserved in person).
      But even if you feel like an idiot and are not the "best" in the class (however that is defined), take time to enjoy learning the secrets of this powerful language used to describe reality!
      I am excited for you. Also, congrats on getting as far as you have. I know it can be a real struggle and even scary at times. Good work. :-)

    • @absolutezero6190
      @absolutezero6190 2 роки тому

      @@Krranski Thank you, really. I appreciate the response. I do really enjoy it, and I think it's important to remind myself from time to time that there will always be someone better than me at whatever subject I pursue. But that doesn't make it not worth doing. The experience is why you keep going, not whether you can "win."
      On another note, I think from a pedagogical standpoint the dryness is absolutely terrible. Yes, it's efficient and compact, but that doesn't mean it's good at teaching anything. With these formal texts I often lose the motivation or context behind the abstract definitions, and so I'm left alone guessing at why someone would possibly want to create such a thing. I think it would be much more fruitful, even at the cost of efficiency, to know the background, motivation, context, etc before learning the content, because it gives meaning and purpose to everything. Without that information, the book is nothing but an encyclopedia, a catalog, in an empty void.
      Ok sorry for all that ranting, lol.

  • @marvitmia
    @marvitmia 8 місяців тому +1

    Incredible how life can send you in a different direction !!

  • @miamitten1123
    @miamitten1123 2 роки тому +82

    _”A mans gotta know his limitations”_ ~ Dirty Harry

  • @kingk2405
    @kingk2405 2 роки тому +19

    Same for a friend of mine who wanted to become a pro golfer .
    When he was 18 after playing since he was 8 and won a lot of regional trophies in Europe a young 12 years old who just started playing at weekends just smashed the record he himself established in his club . He understood he will never be an international player and just carry on to play but in a recreational mode while starting college.

  • @prestonwhite6423
    @prestonwhite6423 8 місяців тому +2

    Final answer equals cos? What is the parameter? So is it cos(x), or cos(pi) or cos(x^2)?

  • @PhysxXSpace
    @PhysxXSpace 2 роки тому +6

    Being an astrophysicist I can define this subject as a subject where you look at board for hours to solve why a ball rolls.

  • @prabhakaranjeyamohan4579
    @prabhakaranjeyamohan4579 2 роки тому +318

    Nobody is born with the ability to solve differential equations that fast. He just needs more practice in solving math problems. It's just people have priority to get a job or start a business.

    • @Struggler_5
      @Struggler_5 2 роки тому +108

      Listen carefully what bezos said at the end...he said that he realized that he couldnt ever be a GREAT theoretical physicist. He couldve easily become a theoretical physicist, just not a great one. Cuz you see, people who ARE born with the ability to grasp hard concepts such as differential equations quickly are the ones who go on to become scientific legends. Bezos couldnt solve the question in 3 hours and thats when he realized that he didnt have the mental ability to become a theoretical physicist who would actually accomplish something great. It was wise of him to quit after that. Lets be honest, anybody can grasp any concept given enough time. But only people who grasp hard concepts quickly become legends in their respective fields. Others who take a lot of time just become average or at most above average in their field...and to be frank, life for a "just average" theoretical physicist isnt a great one

    • @jaysharma9987
      @jaysharma9987 2 роки тому +5

      @@Struggler_5 great answer man

    • @LuthandoDlomo
      @LuthandoDlomo 2 роки тому +45

      @@aman-qj5sx So is no person is born with a natural ability to grasp certain concepts more easily than other people do? or are you just disagreeing for the sake of it?

    • @ThatGuyDownInThe
      @ThatGuyDownInThe 2 роки тому +6

      same with my programming path. at first I didn't even think I could do it. Now it's a year and a half later, I do it for a living, in another year and a half, I hope to be great. by practicing everyday a lot

    • @No_BS_policy
      @No_BS_policy 2 роки тому +18

      IQ level matters most in the physics and mathematics fields. Newton, Euler, Gauss, Riemann, Fourier, Einstein, Turing, Van Neuman all had something in common. High IQ levels. Maths and physics aren't never meant for the average human beings such as Bezoz. I am glad he quit. Someone who can't solve a trigonometric partial differential equation within three hours has no right to be a theoretical physicist. He'd be good doing other things requiring no IQ like getting into business as what Bezoz did.

  • @lucifermorningstar842
    @lucifermorningstar842 2 роки тому +190

    Once I was seven years old and my father told me REMEMBER SON THERE'S ALWAYS AN ASIAN BETTER THAN YOU.

    • @bb-gb7jv
      @bb-gb7jv 2 роки тому +6

      Lmao

    • @gaurav7047
      @gaurav7047 2 роки тому +1

      Hahaha

    • @RapScotty
      @RapScotty 2 роки тому +4

      In this case a Sri Lankan

    • @jaykrishnak3268
      @jaykrishnak3268 2 роки тому +19

      @@RapScotty Sri Lanka is an asian country.

    • @sorahitochi4289
      @sorahitochi4289 2 роки тому +2

      The worst part is even our parents tell us that (u guessed it, I am an Asian 2)

  • @StevenTorrey
    @StevenTorrey 8 місяців тому +2

    That was my argument with math. A tremendous investment in time for a very small result.

  • @JH_75
    @JH_75 8 місяців тому +1

    Heartwarming.

  • @usamamohamad4654
    @usamamohamad4654 2 роки тому +305

    If u like doing something just keep doing it. Don't stop because someone else doing it better then you.

    • @black_jack_meghav
      @black_jack_meghav 2 роки тому +10

      exactly .

    • @omikronQ
      @omikronQ 2 роки тому +1

      god bless

    • @Stefan-vz7op
      @Stefan-vz7op 2 роки тому +36

      Well, Bezos obviously wanted to be one of the very best at what he does. He just said that he likes a lot of things: CS, Electrical engineering, Physics. But most important to him is to be the best. He made a smart decision

    • @christopherg1288
      @christopherg1288 2 роки тому +1

      Yeah. Thanks 😶

    • @cafiteriafraiche
      @cafiteriafraiche 2 роки тому +6

      @@Stefan-vz7op yep that is my takeaway too. Bezos might not have been destined to be a theorist at MIT, but he could definitely still have been hired as a physicist somewhere. He wanted to be the very best though.
      Personally I think it is worth doing what you love even if you aren’t the best - maybe why I’m not the richest man

  • @gregorys5329
    @gregorys5329 2 роки тому +392

    It's an interesting story and there's probably more to Bezos' decision than this moment, but in my opinion this is a bad perspective. Some of the greatest minds in physics were not known to be quick thinkers. If anything, this type of quick thinking is usually indicative of a great engineer.

    • @BlueCosmology
      @BlueCosmology 2 роки тому +13

      @@aman-qj5sx These sort of parlour tricks really are not even useful to being a good scientist, let alone important.

    • @matiasbpg
      @matiasbpg 2 роки тому +31

      @@BlueCosmology actually it is off most importance. Is not that you need to know previous problem by heart, but you need to recognize those patterns. There is no such thing pure creative brilliance, but transformation of previous knowledge ( except from some few exceptions). I think Bezos ommited It's complete thought process, but he probably realized he was really good at solving problems but lacked the profound understanding to be a proficient phycisit

    • @Avenus112
      @Avenus112 2 роки тому +7

      @ཀཱ that's right, but everyone sees patterns, especially when they dont exist. Seems proper judgment to tell an actual pattern is significant.

    • @matiasbpg
      @matiasbpg 2 роки тому +31

      @@BlueCosmology I get what you are saying, and I completely agree that knowing integral tables, or certain family of polynomials by heart, book reference stuff is not useful at all besides knowing they exists.
      Said that, when you attack real research problems, where there is no reference, catching those mathematical pattern ( a thing a computer can't give you insight yet, just spit convoluted expression) is paramount! I'm talking off personal experience, having a master in physics and wrote my thesis on quantum heat engines. There is a phrase by Landau: to solve a physics problem, you need to know the answer first. And that's the intuition you get from previous problem and the creativity of relate seemlesly unrelated problem. That's what the Sri Lankan dude did, not applying a table from a reference book

    • @BlueCosmology
      @BlueCosmology 2 роки тому +1

      @@matiasbpg Pattern recognition between equations is *not* paramount at all, and absolutely is something that computers can do.

  • @thephysicistcuber175
    @thephysicistcuber175 3 місяці тому +3

    Wait, what kind of hard PDE in QM has cosine as solution?

  • @noahbirdrevolution
    @noahbirdrevolution 8 місяців тому +2

    "So I decided to let my parents fund my online bookstore. That led to labor exploitation, penis shaped rockets, and TRT. Great life."

    • @mathias5578
      @mathias5578 8 місяців тому

      What exploitation? If you smoke weed all day, tend to be useless in general, don't like to learn new skills, you deserve to be poor and 'exploited'

  • @Trustds07
    @Trustds07 2 роки тому +65

    "Worked on that one Problem for three hours"
    Me on a small break here after spending 6 hours on a Lie-Algebra symmetry - problem in QFT:
    " =) "

    • @CulusMagnus
      @CulusMagnus 2 роки тому +16

      Yes, when he said that he worked on it for 3 hours, I was like "yeah, that is to be expected"

    • @kristinnkristinsson1369
      @kristinnkristinsson1369 2 роки тому +1

      I only ever did one course on field theory, but it was probably my favorite course in my undergrad.

    • @the_nuwarrior
      @the_nuwarrior 2 роки тому

      i was working for a week on a non trivial inverse laplace transform using complex analysis techniques , a lot of branch cuts and high order poles, indeed physics problems can be very tedious

  • @cgrisetti87
    @cgrisetti87 2 роки тому +89

    This is so true. I'm sure many of us have had moments in life where we meet someone who is perfectly tailored for a path that we're on and helps us realize that we're going the wrong way.

    • @OttzelTV
      @OttzelTV 2 роки тому

      @@ludo-ge9fb Preach man.

    • @Zion7HS
      @Zion7HS 5 місяців тому +1

      And that is precisely why I deviated from going into the profession of MMA, I thought I was pretty good and considered going all in on it until I started training with a pro camp that was preping fighters for professional bouts. I immediately realized the difference between someone like me who was just decently well trained and motivated vs more gifted athletes who where born for the craft, armed with inherent genetic advantages. When you're trying your 110% best and the person next to you proceeds to clown you while barely trying at all, it's like a super loud BANG that wakes you up from the dream. Then you find out that those "gifted" people aren't even in the upper part of the spectrum of the REAL "gifted" people, that's the moment you consider a new career.

  • @TheRedkid20
    @TheRedkid20 2 роки тому +6

    He's right about partial differential equations and I was in that same position as well, working on one problem for 3 hrs....I later became a medical doctor.

  • @meu02136
    @meu02136 8 місяців тому +4

    Instead he decided to be a great lex luther

  • @nadirbaitsaleem7270
    @nadirbaitsaleem7270 2 роки тому +27

    I am a Physics major and college physics is so much tougher than I'm used to from high school :_)

    • @speedspeed121
      @speedspeed121 2 роки тому

      Wait until you get to the addition of angular momentum section in quantum and the professor won't let you use the clebsch-gordan coefficients chart. It isn't hard once you know how to do it, but it's the knowing how to do it is the hard part. LMAO

    • @speedspeed121
      @speedspeed121 2 роки тому

      @IT guides I graduate in June. I already have an electrical engineering job offer and two data science job offers.
      That is why.

    • @speedspeed121
      @speedspeed121 2 роки тому

      @IT guides That's the thing. I know nothing about data science.

  • @ijazhaniffa
    @ijazhaniffa 2 роки тому +16

    Finally a moment I can proudly say I'm Sri Lankan 🇱🇰

    • @AK-de7jn
      @AK-de7jn 2 роки тому

      This is your first moment you’ve been proud to say you’re Sri Lankan? Come on my brother 🤦‍♂️

    • @ijazhaniffa
      @ijazhaniffa 2 роки тому +1

      @@AK-de7jn turn on the TV and watch the news. Our country is in a shit storm

    • @rahulmalik1083
      @rahulmalik1083 2 роки тому +1

      @@ijazhaniffa don't know about the country , but the cricket team surely is .

    • @ijazhaniffa
      @ijazhaniffa 2 роки тому +1

      @@rahulmalik1083 our cricket team is not even a topic worth talking about so lets not.

  • @adnantariq3346
    @adnantariq3346 8 місяців тому

    With all the money n power, etc the man is still humble to mention such a rather humbling story about his shortcomings.

  • @bnato8209
    @bnato8209 8 місяців тому

    Going through my Electrical Engineering studies, I could feel my brain tingle. I still have nightmares from that program. lol

  • @vosvodin
    @vosvodin 2 роки тому +6

    This story takes place around 35 years ago, and he can still remember it. I would forget it in a couple of years.

    • @gokuafrica
      @gokuafrica 2 роки тому +6

      Not if it's a milestone moment for him

    • @isaacanwarwatts8844
      @isaacanwarwatts8844 2 роки тому +1

      Would you forget working on a homework problem for 3 hours

    • @vosvodin
      @vosvodin 2 роки тому

      @@gokuafrica I think it is a stupid milestone. I bet there are many students who spend more time for a single question. Amazon gives you 45 minutes to solve a single interview question.

    • @gokuafrica
      @gokuafrica 2 роки тому +5

      @@vosvodin no I think this was the point he decided that he will quit his physics college. That'll be a big milestone to remember why you quit

    • @gokuafrica
      @gokuafrica 2 роки тому

      @@isaacanwarwatts8844 I have worked on problems that took me a week to solve. Still can't remember the problems 🤣

  • @John-eg2ct
    @John-eg2ct 2 роки тому +18

    I imagine it enters many Physics majors' mind that Einstein did very well in most of his graduate physics classes but still couldn't immediately get a faculty position upon graduation.

  • @stunned_swallow
    @stunned_swallow 8 місяців тому +1

    Man that's why I'm not taking analysis classes anymore

  • @Chertoff88
    @Chertoff88 9 місяців тому +2

    So he decided to become a tyrannical super villain

    • @Broccoli_32
      @Broccoli_32 6 місяців тому

      What math does to a mf

  • @CH-pv2rz
    @CH-pv2rz 2 роки тому +19

    When he realized there was no money to be made in physics.

    • @speedspeed121
      @speedspeed121 2 роки тому +3

      The physicists at my university make well over $250k a year from the school (not including speaking engagements, books etc). I think $250k is decent, but these professors are at one of the best colleges in the country (A level below BErkeley, Stanford, Princeton etc.)

    • @DavidVonR
      @DavidVonR 2 роки тому +7

      @@speedspeed121 There's no money in physics unless you're at the top. Most people in physics and science generally make relatively little.

  • @tonywells6990
    @tonywells6990 2 роки тому +57

    If only he ordered 'Differential Equations for Dummies' from Amazon...

  • @benlikesicecream6601
    @benlikesicecream6601 8 місяців тому +19

    Bezos has mastered the art of telling a story that makes him look humble while simultaneously making it clear he is also a genius

    • @Bleilock1
      @Bleilock1 8 місяців тому +2

      Its called lying lol

  • @dansman1729
    @dansman1729 Місяць тому +1

    One of my favorite videos of all time. I usually see myself as the Bezos in the situation, only rarely as the Yosanta.

  • @luciddream374
    @luciddream374 2 роки тому +51

    I saw the title “the exact moment Jeff bezos decided not to become a ph…” assumed philanthropist. Lol this isn’t what I expected..

    • @useruser-jd3ed
      @useruser-jd3ed 2 роки тому +1

      @Aidan Kitt because theyre usually already born into wealth that provides them with better education than everyone else.

    • @anonymous-zt5jq
      @anonymous-zt5jq 2 роки тому

      @@useruser-jd3ed not true at all, most graduates from mit and t=other tech uni's have come on financial aid, sure there are a few exceptions, money shouldn't be the problem to study as there is everything one needs to get a good education online. People go to uni's to get an official degree that is universally recognized.

  • @arbabamin2719
    @arbabamin2719 3 роки тому +34

    I wonder where the Yusanta is now

    • @paritoshjha28
      @paritoshjha28 2 роки тому +22

      He is now the director of California institute of technology present

    • @arbabamin2719
      @arbabamin2719 2 роки тому +4

      @@paritoshjha28 really? That's so cool.

    • @pneron2032
      @pneron2032 2 роки тому +6

      @@paritoshjha28 No he isn't. He works for a semiconducter company.

    • @ShivamSharma-wi5kb
      @ShivamSharma-wi5kb 2 роки тому +5

      @@paritoshjha28 he's a tech manager at Mediatek

    • @Louis13XIII
      @Louis13XIII 2 роки тому +11

      He tragically died to cow farts

  • @petervass2745
    @petervass2745 2 роки тому +9

    Don't give up Jeff, I'm sure you'll be still rich someday.

  • @johnnyq4260
    @johnnyq4260 8 місяців тому +1

    LOL... junior year, quantum mechanics, PDE... Must be one of those standard problems involving separation of variables and some special function (Hermite, Legendre, spherical harmonics, Bessel, Laguerre, or possibly Airy). What else can it be?

  • @guapscotch9029
    @guapscotch9029 2 роки тому +87

    The biggest takeaway here is that certain people are just better at doing certain things or performing certain tasks. Know your strengths, know your weaknesses. Don’t try to force yourself into something you know you aren’t good at. Imagine a society where everyone played to their strengths and delegating tasks went to the person most qualified and suitable with a mastery for that task.

    • @MrCmon113
      @MrCmon113 Рік тому +6

      The theoretical physicists would also be good at managing a company. Some things are just harder than others.

    • @Scriabinfan593
      @Scriabinfan593 7 місяців тому +3

      You would need to have good compensation and benefits for all jobs for that to happen. People choose to go into fields that are above their intellectual capabilities in hopes of making good money and living a life of dignity because the jobs that would fit their abilities and talents don’t pay very well. As long as the society doesn’t see labor as being valuable, this will never change.

    • @jjmarr7130
      @jjmarr7130 7 місяців тому +7

      ​@@MrCmon113not necessarily. Stephen Hawking was a genius and is one of the best theoretical physicists of all time. He also cheated with his nurse, who happened to be the wife of the guy who developed his speech synthesizer (his voice).
      Would you ever work for a boss like that? There's a difference between management and leadership; the second is a lot harder than the first but you need both to operate at a high level.

    • @scepticalchymist
      @scepticalchymist 6 місяців тому +4

      Not sure about that. A certain resistance makes you grow. If you are not good at something, but challenge yourself, you can get better at it. It's not unlimited, but can still be very rewarding. People, who have a talent, and for which everything is easy going, are often not succeeding, because they have troubles to persist in tasks which they conceive as being too simple and boring for them. Persistence is, as far as I know, a better predictor for success, than IQ.

  • @omerfarukmerey3530
    @omerfarukmerey3530 2 роки тому +4

    I used to have the same situation in my classes in math. People are thinking that I do them on my head but since I solved a lot of problems I would see similarities between questions and solve them easily. I am not saying I’m smart or neither is Yosantha it’s just hardwork.

  • @foopthethird5784
    @foopthethird5784 8 місяців тому +1

    Trust me, if the answer of a differential equation is cosine, it did not take 3 physicists and 3 pages to solve it.

  • @fantadan
    @fantadan 2 роки тому +1

    I think the lesson here is how important is mapping things in solving complex problems

  • @Turnpost2552
    @Turnpost2552 2 роки тому +7

    This is exactly the samething with Computer Science, even down to the solution. Yet I still pursue.

  • @jianyuhua
    @jianyuhua 2 роки тому +117

    I was majored in physics, and I told similar story to a lot of my friends😂 “That one time the class average was 31 and that one kid who was 14 got full credit on the test, and he finished the test, which suppose to take 4 hour, in 49 minutes. Like yeah, if you write none-stop it’ll take around 35 minutes.” And now, I’m in mechanical engineering. 🤷🏻‍♂️

    • @annah8921
      @annah8921 2 роки тому +1

      31 percent?? With or without a curve?

    • @AxxLAfriku
      @AxxLAfriku 2 роки тому

      today someone commented i should delete all videos :( people can be so mean. but i dont care. i know im the best. i never give up. i am age 80+ and will never stop. thanks for caring, dear eli

    • @sidv4615
      @sidv4615 Рік тому

      @@AxxLAfriku you're 80?

    • @newt2120
      @newt2120 8 місяців тому

      @@AxxLAfriku no you really should. Ur content is fcking trash. Ur talents probably lie elsewhere

    • @frazebean5117
      @frazebean5117 8 місяців тому

      ​@@AxxLAfrikuyou should delete all your videos

  • @rafaelayala955
    @rafaelayala955 6 місяців тому +2

    I guess we all have a moment in life with a similar situation. Mine was playing chess as a beeginer when I was 18 years old. 8 years old players defeated me very easily, even when I was studying and practicing a lot. Dedicate my time to other things and I don't regret now

  • @-es2bf
    @-es2bf 5 місяців тому +2

    Yo Santa, merry christmas.

  • @adityamahesh1179
    @adityamahesh1179 4 роки тому +29

    He has freaked me out...!!!

  • @Indic4Zone
    @Indic4Zone 2 роки тому +71

    well thanks to that, if he could solve that homework, we might not have amazon now

    • @achrafkhallouli5378
      @achrafkhallouli5378 2 роки тому +18

      Other online stores would have been more than enough.

    • @lebronirving9784
      @lebronirving9784 2 роки тому +9

      @@achrafkhallouli5378 if other online stores would be suitable, than why is it Amazon succeeded?

    • @anujchaturvedi6296
      @anujchaturvedi6296 2 роки тому +13

      @@lebronirving9784 because amazon is one of the first one... the market is too saturated and many online stores went bankrupt during the dot com crash and 2007/2008 economical crash. But, I have huge respect for Mr Bezos... Kudos to him.

    • @patrickhamos2987
      @patrickhamos2987 2 роки тому

      yeah we wish

    • @ruslankazimov622
      @ruslankazimov622 2 роки тому

      I don't care that Bezo's wealth would be distributed around 4-5 other businessman. I do enjoy economics of scale. They would simply fix the prices and squize the money out of our pockets just like Nvidia and AMD.

  • @RoyalRook
    @RoyalRook 2 роки тому

    Ok so I loved music especially played my auto sax in highschool. I was first chair all district by practicing everyday on the piece which everyone is going to be judged on. My friend Ben, the most talented musician in the state looked at it for a minute, and played it with more depth than I could comprehend. I was floored, and understood immediately that I am no musician.

  • @itszeen7855
    @itszeen7855 2 роки тому

    I can relate to studying in a group for hours on one problem for Real Analysis. I'd spend all day on those homework assignments.