Belief has power - How George Dantzig solved two unsolvable math problems
Summary
- George Dantzig was a doctoral student in Berkeley in 1939. One day he came to class late and assumed that the two math problems on the blackboard were homework.
- He found them a bit harder than usual, but after a few days presented the answer to his professor with an apology for taking so long.
- It turned out he had solved two 'unsolvable' problems because he believed they were just an extra difficult homework assignment
Details
- Sometimes, our belief that we can do something has a direct relationship to whether we can or not
References
Quotes
One of my favorite stories illustrating the power of our beliefs involves the Berkeley math doctoral student George Dantzig. The story goes that George arrived late to his statistics class in 1939 and assumed the two math problems on the chalkboard were homework. So he copied them down to solve that night. He found the problems more difficult than usual, but he returned to class with the answers after a few days and apologized to his professor for taking so long. Soon afterward, the professor tracked George down, brimming with excitement. As it turned out, George had solved two “unsolvable” open problems in statistical theory because he believed they were merely difficult homework assignments with known answers.
Had George been aware that these problems were stumping the world’s best mathematicians, he might not have come up with the proofs. The accident of being late set him up to do something extraordinary. And that, in turn, helped change his life, launching him on a path to a professorship at Stanford University and an academic career filled with other major discoveries.