Tier 4

teach - Feynman Explanation

Feynman Explanation

Input: $ARGUMENTS

Step 1: Identify the Concept

What exactly needs to be explained? Pin it down precisely.

CONCEPT: [the thing to explain]
DOMAIN: [field or context it belongs to]
WHY IT MATTERS: [one sentence — why would someone care about understanding this?]

Step 2: Assess the Audience

Who is this explanation for? This determines vocabulary and starting point.

AUDIENCE: [who — beginner, peer, expert in adjacent field, child, etc.]
THEY ALREADY KNOW: [list 2-3 things you can assume they understand]
THEY DON'T KNOW: [list 2-3 things you cannot assume]
ENTRY POINT: [the familiar concept to build from]

If the audience is not specified, default to “smart person with no background in this domain.”

Step 3: Explain Simply

Write the explanation following these rules:

  • No jargon without immediate definition
  • No acronyms
  • Use concrete examples, not abstract descriptions
  • Use analogies to things the audience already knows
  • If a concept has parts, explain them in order of dependency (what you need to know first comes first)
  • One idea per paragraph
EXPLANATION:

[The plain-language explanation goes here. Start from the entry point and build up.]

Step 4: Find the Gaps

Read your explanation as if you were the audience. Look for:

GAP CHECK:
- Unexplained leap? [Where you jumped from A to C without B]
- Hidden jargon? [Words that feel simple to you but aren't to the audience]
- Missing "why"? [Where you said what something IS but not why it EXISTS or matters]
- Missing example? [Where an abstract claim needs a concrete case]

Step 5: Refine

Fix every gap found in Step 4. Rewrite the explanation.

REFINED EXPLANATION:

[The improved explanation — clean, complete, copy-paste ready]

Step 6: Test Question

Generate one question the audience should be able to answer if they understood the explanation. This serves as a self-test.

TEST: [question]
EXPECTED ANSWER: [what someone who understood would say]

Integration

Use with:

  • /anag -> Generate a detailed analogy to anchor the explanation
  • /sim -> When the explanation itself needs to be shorter
  • /sum -> When the source material needs summarizing before teaching
  • /sp -> Sharpen the teaching question before building the explanation