Forgetting fundaes

It is a common knowledge that if your fundaes (fundamental concepts) about a particular thing are clear, you do not forget it. I will dig deeper into this common knowledge.

First, let us re-check the meaning of above line. It could mean in different ways

P1. It may mean that when you have learned a concept and its fundamentals are clear, you would not forget the concept. eg. A mathematical formula, or a sorting algorithm.

P2. Or it could mean when you have learned a concept and its fundamentals are clear, you will have the ability to re-discover the concept in furture, even if you have forgotten it. For example, you could derive a mathematical formula or you could reconstruct an algorithm etc.

P1 is very superficial. I assume that most people realize it. What I mean is that fundaes of a thing being clear does not mean that you can recite a long formula or algorithm quickly whenever asked a long time in future.

P2 looks sensible, but this is where I would dig deeper. First lets see why ‘fundaes’ are anything special than normal memories. why would they remain intact while we forget other things related to them. There are 2 ways of interpreting this.

Pa. Fundaes could mean simply memories about fundamental concepts. These are special memories because they go beyond a concepts contexual meaning. Since it is not contextual, it is very basic and remains in some special area of brain where it is not forgotten. I assume here the fact that whichever memory is accessed frequently is not lost. The unaccessed memories for long time will be lost. As these fundaes get ‘touched’ frequently, they are never lost.

Pb. Fundaes could also mean the ability of brain to derive a concept. This is a unique setup of one’s brain and not like memory. So that could remain intact for long time, except for effects of aging.
If we assume ‘Pa’ then I think the fundaes themselves could be lost just like memories. And here is my explaination.

(For further discussion I assume myself as test subject and do not mean to boast about my abilities or hide by disabilities).

I clearly remember that throughout my academics and till date, I have been quick learner. When a new concept is introduced, I am able to understand (and re-discover) it quickly as compared to my classmates or collegues. This has been formarlly tested in my aptitude tests as well as certain tough tests on maths & science that are designed with the sole purpose of calculating onces ‘fundaes, understanding, analytical abilites etc’. Yet I find one problem with me. I find many a times, that I have forgotten completely the ‘fundaes’ that I had discovered about 5 years earlier, although other people (clasmates/collegues) could remember them very well. I mean here very basic fundaes like high school science or mathematics. I havn’t forgotten everything, but I don’t believe I would be able to do very good in a calculas test for example, as compared to my collegues. Although I am sure I did very well and was known to know calculas very well in high school.

So the question is why do I forget fundamental concepts as compared to other average people, when in fact I was first to understand a concept and did understand with greater depth. (as my previous records show)

I see these possible answers

1. It could simply be my brain’s way of storing the concepts is different

2. It could also be that I did not really understand the concepts well, that what I call as fundaes were not fundaes after all. and I did well in exams because of some ability to solve the problems on the fly without understand concepts well (eg point b. above).

3. However, the most probable reason I feel is the following:.

Fundaes could be combination of both Pa & Pb. They could be formed with a process of ‘re-discovery’ (ie for example understanding a mathematical theorm, in the same way the theorm’s proponent had thought before). The re-discovery could be assisted by formal knowledge (eg textbooks, teaching etc), but it is still a re-discovery. The next part after the re-discovery is the storing of concept just like any other memory, but in some special portion of the brain. It is also possible that this special portion is limited in the number of fundaes you could store. So when it is packed and there is no more space, it may forget some non-frequently used fundaes. For the people where this area is never full, the fundaes are intact. I know for sure that I have always been forming new fundaes, probably much more than an average person (for example this article) and so my fundaes box has no more space. It knows that ‘partial differential equations’ are never used by me and so they could be forgotten. Similarly some algorithms (eg sorting algorithms) that are not in frequent use can be forgotten.

.. all of above could be just true, or it could be just an excuse to say why I don’t remember quick-sort or cannot derive quick-sort quickly if asked to do so.