Where are the flower petals from?

 

Walking in the Gallop extension of Singapore Botanic Garden, two yellower flower petals rested conspicuously on a large green leave of Simpor shrub drew my attention. Looking around I did not see any blooming simpor flowers, only some flower buds. Where are the petals from? I wonder. Could it be that somebody picked up the blown over petals from the ground and placed them there? unlikely Lily said.

Before walking away, I walked closer to the shrub, looked at the under side of the large leave right above  where the petals were. There were several flower buds and one blooming flower, and a flower with lost  petals ...right there under the leave! 

Changing the view angle, the mystery of the fallen flower petals was easily solved.

This reminded me of a number puzzle I saw on LinkedIn, which was presented in a picture of a parking lot, with a sequence of numbers corresponding to  parking slots, 16, 06, 68, 88, x, 98. In the place of x is a car. The puzzle asks for the slot number that the car parks in.

Typical approach to solve this type of number puzzle is to find the relations between the numbers. Quickly I realized that there was no relation between the numbers. What could the number be? just then it occurred to me, that if I turn the picture 180 degree, the numbers are sequential number from 86 to 91. The car sits on slot number 87.

In this case, it is literally that changing the view angle makes the answer obvious!

Looking at problems from a different angle is one way to solve challenging problems. Out of box thinking is one manifestation of looking at problems from a different angle, which make seemingly very difficult problem simple - it is how innovation being made.

The prerequisite of looking at problems from a different angle, or thinking out of box, is the curiosity toward an observation or a challenge. 

Be curious, let curiosity lead us to explore!