"No, that doesn't work"

Back in 90s or so, apparently, my dad told me of some math (physics-related) he had worked out. He told me of the inputs, what was done and what was the output.

I have absolutely no memory of this, so I have to take his word for it. I would've been in my teens or so back then.

Apparently I stared blankly at nothing for a while (I still do that, apparently that's how my wife knows that I'm about to come up with some really fascinating idea - again, her words, as I typically I'm otherwise too occupied to notice) and then told him that it wouldn't work.

Well, (as told) I was right - as described it wouldn't work as he had left out one very crucial step.

I'm no math genius, really. Give me a formula and I can quickly make it work in code. Give me a problem (on a field I'm at least somewhat experienced and familiar with) and I can work out a solution. It might take a long time (and loads of reference materials), but I'll get there. But nothing too far out from my experience, thank you - there is a limit on what I'm willing to absorb at a time.

Some time ago I was asked for a G-force measurement. They had a very practical problem - a vehicle, fully loaded with massive amounts of cargo, travelling a path. Figure out maximum loading stress with certain parameters. A fun thought experiment, really. I worked out a solution, wrote some code, tested briefly that it worked and offered a solution.

I guess my idea was too good, then went for simpler solution. Ah well. But now my toolkit has been reinforced with new, fun tools to work with in future.