The Feynman technique is named after physicist Richard Feynman, who was famous for explaining difficult ideas in plain language. It rests on a simple truth: if you cannot explain something simply, you do not understand it yet.
The four steps
- Pick a topic and write its name at the top of a blank page.
- Explain it as if to a curious twelve-year-old. Use plain words and short sentences. No jargon, no hiding behind terms.
- Find the gaps. Wherever you stumble, wave your hands or reach for a fancy word, you have found something you do not understand.
- Go back, learn that part, and simplify again. Use analogies and examples until the explanation flows.
Why it works
Reading creates a feeling of familiarity that is easy to mistake for understanding. Explaining forces you to retrieve, organise and connect ideas, which is exactly the effort that builds lasting memory.
Make it even better
- Say it aloud or teach a friend. Questions reveal more gaps than you can find alone.
- Draw a diagram when words get tangled.
- Come back a week later and explain it again from scratch.
Try it on a logic puzzle
After solving a puzzle, explain to a friend why the answer must be right and why the other options fail. If you can walk someone through the reasoning, you have learned the technique behind it, not just the answer.
Practise on any Vault puzzle and then explain your solution out loud.