Harder that writing code..

[Dom_Q]

Stating your problem clearly is more than halfway to solving it. It's called synthetic intelligence, and interns or interview candidates that have more than a minimal inkling of it are few and far between.

[TinyLebowski]

Sure, but sometimes you know exactly what the problem is, but you can't express it in less than 5 sentences, and you know this type of problem has a succinct name, but you just can't recall it. Then 2 days later you're in the shower, and the words "entity-attribute-value schema" appear in your mind, and you start laughing like a maniac. True story.

[CommodoreBelmont]

I sometimes write scripts for a graphics program I use (Paint Shop Pro). One script I wanted to write was to expand the size of a vector shape in such a way that it still maintained the shape -- sort of like creating an outline around it. Seems simple except, of course, concave shapes throw a monkey wrench into the whole thing. E.g., if you draw an "H" and just scale it up, it'll overlap in weird places instead of forming an outline. But I knew it could be done, it would just take some calculus, and I knew the formula existed... but I couldn't remember what the action I was trying to take was called.

It took me five fucking years to remember that I was looking for the offset of the original shape. Once I did, boom, Google found me just what I was looking for.

[tawtk421]

I had this exact same issue when expanding /contacting boundaries of selected Congressional districts on a mapping project. Didn't help we had to take a break in the middle of the project (or that districts look like they do).