What did he realise while gardening?
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: D. The solution was simpler than he had assumed
- Step 1: Find the part of the text that deals with this. Step 2. Third sentence. Answer: The solution was simpler than he had assumed. Why not the others: The answer was simpler.
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