# 20250707

["viable is more useful than correct"](/ideas/viable-is-more-useful-than-correct.md)

just occurred to me that this is pretty much just

"viable is more viable than correct"

"x is more x than correct"

for what values of x is this correct?

"x is more x than correct"

"x is more x than true"

I think this ends up looking like

"what's more dimensional than something of a lesser dimension?"

"I don't know, what *do* you call something that's more dimensional than something of a lesser dimension?"

"I don't know, you tell me and I'll tell you!"

grounding this: I remember the spot where my brain stopped being able to track the math I was trying to learn. I remember what it felt like. I couldn't *see* it. I don't remember the specifics of where I was in calculus or whatever, but I just stopped being able to follow the connections.

this is the thing I didn't "get" at the time - like, if I went back and took that class again, I'd be able to follow. (I think, anyway, I don't know.)

"when taking the derivative, how does a symbolic expression survive?"

like, literally: if you're fond of how the characters look in an expression, and you know that taking the derivative is going to transform some things and the constants will just straight up vanish from the expression, how do you keep the thing going?

you build with e<sup>x</sup>

... okay, this *has* to be related to the [three-body](/2025/06/07/three-body.md) solution


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://www.isaacbowen.com/2025/07/07.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.