# Simplify the Problem Frequently the best problem solvers are able to: > **Simplify** the **problem** without losing the **essence**, without losing the **essential features**. Steve Strogatz speaks to this beautifully [here](https://overcast.fm/+tWC4CCr1A/17:40): > We are trying to solve some problem and we don't know how to do it. Where simplicity is helpful is that if you can make the problem easier in some way, such that you still don't know how to solve it, but you have more hope of solving it because its easier, that is often a good strategy to make progress. Find a simpler problem that you also don't know how to solve. You can do anything you want. We have a lot of freedom in science in math, you can get there in whatever path you like. Simplify the problem ruthlessly until it is minimal, until it is the simplest problem that contains the essential difficulty. The best personal example I have of implementing this strategy would be during my time at ZGE, described in [LGBM Overfitting](LGBM%20Overfitting.md). --- Date: 20211104 Links to: [Big Ideas MOC](Big%20Ideas%20MOC.md) Tags: References: * Complexity book, pg 231 * [Steven Strogatz on ruthless simplification — Night Science — Overcast](https://overcast.fm/+tWC4CCr1A/17:40)