Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi

Let's look at section three, invert, always invert, the power of thinking backward.

This is a concept Munger actually borrowed from the great 19th century mathematician Carl Gustav Jacobi.

Jacobi believed that the solution to many incredibly difficult problems could be found simply by looking at them in reverse.

Munger famously sums this whole idea up with this contrarian, slightly humorous quote, All I want to know is where I'm going to die, so I'll never go there.

Fast forward a few centuries, and the sources show this applied to rigorous mathematics.

The German mathematician Karl Jacobi had a famous maxim.

Man muss immer umkehren.

Invert, always invert.