Understanding Writing: How to Avoid Losing Track of Your Own Thoughts

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The discussion centers on the challenges of understanding complex mathematical proofs and lemmas after writing them down. Participants express a common experience of initially grasping the material but later struggling to comprehend their own notes. This often indicates a lack of true understanding at the time of writing. Suggestions for improvement include taking breaks to gain perspective, reading the material slowly, and seeking feedback from others. The importance of the proofreading process is emphasized, highlighting that if the writer cannot understand their work upon revisiting it, clarity is likely needed for the audience as well. The conversation also touches on the time-consuming nature of writing detailed reports, with one participant noting a very slow writing pace.
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I am doing a long 'essay' which is essentially an expansion of a graduate level proof but each time I write something like a lemma down and then try to go back to it, I don't seem to be able to understand it. In other words, I don't seem to understand what I wrote down myself. I do seem to understand it at the moment of writing it down. Why? Does this happen to anyone else?

How can it be corrected?
 
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Well its happened to me before in the sense that when I wrote that original stuff down, it actually had an error in it and didnt make sense. When I took some rest and came back to it, I look at it for a while wondering what I don't get, and finally realize that I was wrong lol. Just make sure you are taking good rest, read through it slowly, and if that doesn't work, it will most likely be solved if you get a fresh pair of eyes on it =]
 
Gib Z said:
Well its happened to me before in the sense that when I wrote that original stuff down, it actually had an error in it and didnt make sense. When I took some rest and came back to it, I look at it for a while wondering what I don't get, and finally realize that I was wrong lol. Just make sure you are taking good rest, read through it slowly, and if that doesn't work, it will most likely be solved if you get a fresh pair of eyes on it =]

What level is yours?

A graduate level lemma can be two or more pages.
 
Well its happened to me on many different things, on many different levels. Regardless, the procedure is the same.
 
My immediate thought is "you didn't understand it properly in the first place".
 
Cexy said:
My immediate thought is "you didn't understand it properly in the first place".

You are right, I didn't understand it. Wasn't it Feynman who said, 'I don't understand something until I'm able to create it'.
 
Cexy said:
My immediate thought is "you didn't understand it properly in the first place".

I agree. This is part of the proofreading process. If you write something, then set it aside, and go back again, if it doesn't make sense to you, it certainly won't make sense to someone else. It means you need to edit/revise and make it clearer.
 
I am writing a report with 1 word per hour speed :cry:.
 

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