Indeed, the most important part of engineering work-and also of other scientific work-is the determination of the method of attacking the problem, whatever it may be, whether an experimental investigation, or a theoretical calculation. ... It is by the choice of a suitable method of attack, that intricate problems are reduced to simple phenomena, and then easily solved.
Charles Proteus Steinmetz, Joseph Le Roy Hayden (1917). “Steinmetz Electrical Engineering Library: Engineering mathematics; a series of lectures delivered at Union college (3rd ed. 1917)”
