Dear Richard,
Cao Chong(±ä¨R) was a very intelligent boy. His father, Cao Cao (±ä¾Þ) was a prime minister during Dong Han (ªFº~) dynasty (25 A.D. to 220 A.D.). One day, someone gave a big elephant to the king as a gift. The king wanted to know the weight of the elephant. At that time, it was a real tough question. There was no balance that could weigh such a big object.
Cao Chong knew about this. He came up with an idea. He asked people to find him a boat. After getting the elephant on board, the water level was marked. He then unloaded the elephant and asked people to load the boat with stones until the water level of the boat was back to the mark. He took out the stones and measured their weight one by one. By adding up the weight of all stones, he got the weight of the elephant.
Richard, sometimes, one may find difficult to solve a big problem. However, if you break the big problem into some smaller ones, it will be simplified and become easier. Like Cao Chong, weighing stones is much more practical than weighing an elephant.
With love, Dad