Fourier Transform
Explain this to a curious 12-year-old
← Can you make it simpler?
Friction
The unit of knowledge is not the answer but the question you can't yet answer. Understanding arrives through repeated failure.
Why is a coffee cup topologically equivalent to a donut?
Dec 23, 2025
Failed
Something about holes? They both have one hole so they're the same. But that can't be right because a straw has two holes...
Dec 25, 2025
Partial
It's about continuous deformation without cutting or gluing. The handle of the mug corresponds to the hole in the donut. But I still can't explain why genus matters more than shape...
What makes a tritone feel unstable?
Dec 20, 2025
Failed
It's called the devil's interval because it sounds bad? That's not an explanation. It's six semitones exactly...
Why does E=mc² and not E=mc³ or some other exponent?
Dec 18, 2025
Partial
Dimensional analysis: energy is kg⋅m²/s², and c² gives m²/s². So mc² works dimensionally. But why is c the relevant velocity? Because it's invariant under Lorentz transformations...
Good questions expose gaps. If you can answer it easily, it's not worth tracking.