One time during my career I invented a whole new way to store tree structured data in a relational database. Once I'd "invented" it and understood it I knew enough to research it and find out that it was a well understood technique.
I've recently become mildly obsessed with geodesic domes. How do you make all those triangles link together, but not end up with a flat surface? I decided that the best way to understand it was to build one, but I don't have the maths or the materials to build it from straight edges. What I did was to buy a polystyrene sphere and mark out the triangles of a "2-frequency subdivision of an icosahedron" on its surface. It was a fascinating project and I’ll do it again better and with a higher frequency.
The great thing is that since doing it I have a much better understanding of the construction and I've been able to find and understand articles that explain the theory behind these shapes. They're both simpler and cleverer than I knew, and I still don't have enough maths to calculate the lengths of the edges myself.
Richard "Buckminster Fuller" B
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