The Power of Not Knowing Limits

 



Unaware of Impossibility


There is a saying that nothing is impossible, but is that really true? Here is a real-life story that makes this statement believable.

Long ago at Columbia University, it was a normal day in class. A professor was giving a lecture, and one of the students, feeling tired, fell asleep for a while. After the professor left, the student woke up and noticed two problems written on the board. He assumed they were homework assignments and went home. Once he got home, he started working on the problems. He spent two to three hours trying to solve them, but nothing worked. Then he went to the library and read many books, hoping to find a solution, but he still couldn’t figure out how to solve the problems.

After a couple of hours, while reading a book, he came across a reference problem that gave him an idea of how to approach the solution. Somehow, he managed to solve one of the problems and returned home. He felt a little worried because he was able to solve only one problem, and then he went to sleep. The very next morning, he went to college as usual. When the professor finished the lecture and was about to leave the class, the student asked him to check the assignment problems. The professor replied, “Which assignment? I didn’t give any assignment yesterday.”

The student responded, “The two problems you wrote on the board. I solved one of them.”

The professor was shocked for a moment and then said that those were problems that scientists had not been able to solve. This revelation shocked the student as well. Later, his achievement was recognized, and all four of his papers are still on display at Columbia University.






The most important lesson from this story is that the student never heard that these problems had no solutions. He genuinely believed they were just difficult problems and gave his 100% effort to solve them. Because of this mindset, he succeeded in solving one of the most difficult problems.

This story reminds us not to listen when someone says something is impossible. Always remember that good things take more time to achieve than bad things. Be patient, work wholeheartedly, and one day you will succeed in reaching your goals.

This student's name was George Dantzig, and his problem wa taken from Math Stack Exchange.


 


















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