rewriting, asking the right question

[Qingmin Liu]

Atiyah:

Do not hesitate to rewrite the paper, perhaps
from a totally new angle, if you become convinced
that this will make it clearer and easier to read.
Well-written papers become “classics” and are
widely read by future mathematicians. Badly written
papers are ignored or, if they are sufficiently
important, they get rewritten by others. 

If you know where a problem comes from, why
the question has been asked, then you are halfway
toward its solution. In fact, asking the right question is
often as difficult as solving it. Finding the right context
is an essential first step.

My own approach has been to try to avoid the direct
onslaught and look for indirect approaches. This
involves connecting your problem with ideas and techniques
from different fields that may shed unexpected
light on it.