In the 19th century, a German mathematician named Carl Jacobi developed an interesting insight:
Many hard math problems become easier to solve when you flip them around and work backwards.
He famously preached to his students, "Man muss immer umkehren."
Translation: Invert, always invert.
As it turns out, this idea echoes across history, showing up in a variety of places before and after Jacobi...
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