Was there any time in your life that you had a flash of insight? A eureka, or ‘Aha!’ moment? Can you describe it?
Share why if you wish.
Asking — and answering — life's interesting questions
Was there any time in your life that you had a flash of insight? A eureka, or ‘Aha!’ moment? Can you describe it?
Share why if you wish.
The most powerful ‘Eureka!’ moment that I can recall happened when I was in calculus class as a junior in high school. That day, the topic was the derivative, and how it is defined.
The teacher was laying out the steps in logical, orderly fashion, and at some point, some bit of clarity clicked in, and I could see, instantly, all the remaining steps and the final result.
At that moment, everything in the world went away. I could no longer hear the teacher talking, or my fellow students shuffling in their seats. I stopped taking notes, and just sat there, in utter, complete silence, staring straight ahead at nothing.
There have been very few moments in my life where I have been stunned, but this was definitely one of them.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that this instant transformed my life. I ended up being a mathematics major in college, graduating at the top of my math class, and I don’t know if any of that would have happened if not for that moment. It solidified a decades-long love affair with mathematics that shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.