The reason 's physics was so hard for ordinary people to grasp was that he did not use equations. The usual theoretical physics was done since the time of was to begin by writing down some equations and then to work hard calculating solutions of the equations. This was the way and and did physics. just wrote down the solutions out of his head without ever writing down the equations. He had a physical picture of the way things happen, and the picture gave him the solutions directly with a minimum of calculation. It was no wonder that people who had spent their lives solving equations were baffled by him. Their minds were analytical; his was pictorial.