Why is abstraction necessary? In (0.1.1) What is Intellectual Production, I tell the metaphor of the sample code. The information you brought from the outside does not fit to your situation as it is.

Let’s consider things when solving problems of high school mathematics. Suppose you read a question Q1 and you do not know how to solve it. Suppose you read the answer A1 and understand it. So, now you can solve Q1. At this time, can you solve a similar question Q2? If you just remember the specific answer A1, you cannot solve similar problem Q2. A1 is a piece of concrete information and not abstracted yet. Suppose you learned some more similar problems, and you discovered patterns in how to solve those questions. After that, you can solve the problem Q2.

image

The pattern in how to solve is more abstracted and generalized knowledge than a specific answer. If we do not acquire abstract knowledge through pattern discovery, we cannot solve new problems.

en.icon --- This page is auto-translated from [/nishio/(1.4.7) Why is abstraction necessary?](https://scrapbox.io/nishio/(1.4.7) Why is abstraction necessary?) using DeepL. If you looks something interesting but the auto-translated English is not good enough to understand it, feel free to let me know at [@nishio_en](https://twitter.com/nishio_en). I'm very happy to spread my thought to non-Japanese readers.