What had Professor Rahman been struggling with?
Although he spent his career solving abstract problems, Professor Ali Rahman says his greatest insight came while weeding his garden. He had been stuck on a proof for months, trying ever more complex approaches. Then, kneeling beside a row of beans, he realised the answer was simpler than anything he had attempted. 'I had been looking for a clever solution,' he recalls, 'when what the problem needed was patience.' Psychologists describe the experience as 'incubation', in which the mind continues to work unconsciously on a problem once we stop thinking about it directly. Rahman is more modest: he credits the beans.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C. A mathematical proof he could not complete
- Step 1: Find the part of the text that deals with this. Step 2. Second sentence. Answer: A mathematical proof he could not complete. Why not the others: He was stuck on a proof.
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