• Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Me: I could spend a month getting deep into trigonometry… OR, I could spend a month looking for a library that contains someone else’s trigonometry.

    • ChowJeeBai@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      We learn theory not to understand the derivation of the details, but to understand how the theory fits in with everything else. Using a library without understanding the theory just means you know that sin(angle) is just a number, but not how the number helps you work out the length of steel beam as it changes due to changes in angle.

      They are simply not the same.

      Source: working with juniors that can’t do anything outside of what the libraries do for them.

      • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Agreed, but almost everyone here can relate to trying to find efficiencies that end up costing you just as much time.