Classify, Measure, Borrow Ideas, and Test Quickly
On this page 6 headings
Start here Your mother says, “Go and buy rice.” You ask, “How many kilos?” — not milligrams, not tonnes. Without thinking, you chose the right unit. Engineers do this on purpose, all the time.
Habit 11: Classify by function and form (taxonomy)
Taxonomy means naming and grouping things by what they do (function) or how they look (form). A good name carries a lot of meaning.
| Word | What it instantly tells you |
|---|---|
| Lever | Effort, fulcrum, load → mechanical advantage |
| Hammer | A tool for impact |
Engineering words have entered daily life too: leverage, gearing up, switch on / switch off, electrifying, search engine, anchoring.
Levers in life (Prof. Shiva)
“Give me a lever long enough and I can move the world.” — often credited to Archimedes
Levers are everywhere, if you look for them:
- In court (“courtcraft”): the judge’s mood, the time of day, a smile, a friendly word to the opposing lawyer before the hearing.
- At home: your son comes home late. Instead of getting angry, use the relationship as a lever and talk calmly.
- In coaching: a sudden bang on the table or a change in voice tone is a cue to explore the feeling behind it.
- A smile, a pat on the back and appreciation are all levers.
Habit 12: Dimensions, units and numbers
Engineers always ask, “How much? In what unit?”
| Situation | Sensible unit |
|---|---|
| Buying rice at a shop | kg |
| Rice stock in a mill’s godown | tonnes |
| “It’s very hot!” | What’s the temperature? |
| Distance between stars | light years (the distance light travels in one year) |
- Relate numbers to things you can picture. For example, 1 tonne is about 15 adults’ weight.
- Old units came from the body: people measured a room by placing one foot after another. Later, units were standardised (foot, metre).
Habit 13: Associative understanding of features
If you solved one problem, look for similar features in a new problem and reuse the method.
| Solved here | Same feature reused there |
|---|---|
| Blowing air separates light husk from heavier rice | Cleaning cotton in the textile industry with air |
| The thirsty crow drops pebbles into a pot to raise the water level (stones displace water) | Any problem where you raise a level by adding volume |
Habit 14: Quick rough (“jugaad”) experiments
When you have an idea but no lab to test it, do a quick, rough experiment first to check if it’s feasible.
Lecture example — the egg drop “Below what height can I drop an egg without breaking it?” Drop a few eggs from small heights (say 2 cm) and see. You get a ballpark answer fast. Husk test: blow air on a handful of rice and husk. Does the husk fly off? If yes, refine the idea further.
Note: the video transcript calls these “jugular experiments”. The intended word is almost certainly “jugaad”: a quick, low-cost test.
In one line: Name things by function, think in the right units and numbers, reuse solutions with similar features, and test ideas first with quick rough experiments. Exam words: taxonomy, classification by function and form, lever, leverage, courtcraft, dimensions, units, light year, associative understanding of features, husk and air, thirsty crow, rough (jugaad) experiments, feasibility.