To clarify my wife is extremely smart but doesn’t get mirrors. She thinks if we are looking at each other from just the right angle that she could see me but I won’t see her. I explained that if I am looking at your eyes then you can guaranteed see mine. I have tried to explain it in a million different ways but am having no luck. Please help.
Edit: Some great answers but I have already tried similar examples. I literally used a laser pointer but she still believes she could find the exact right angle where she can see me but I can’t see her…maybe she is doomed to just never get it. To clarify things she is a trained financial planner than can do some crazy math in her head but this baffles her.
In: Other
I don’t believe this is a good place to ask it ELI5, because you’re not the one having the problem.
You should ask her to explain to you how mirrors work, and have her reason about that “perfect angle” she thinks exists. Eg how can there be only one such angle, but we have two eyes. What would happen, in her mind, if you shift from that angle just by a tiny bit (all directions possible!), what would she then see. What does she even mean with “you cannot see her”, does she mean it’s away from the picture in the mirror as it appears to you? Does she mean there is a “black hole” somewhere in the mirror, something where light bends around or something?
Sooner or later you will find a contradiction in her reasoning. Don’t be a dick about it, don’t say “ah haah look here you dummy”, instead try saying something like “I don’t understand how x and y go together”
Latest Answers