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Are you thinking of the short story "The Feeling of Power" by Isaac Asimov.

(A technician discovers how to do simple arithmetical calculations in a world where no remembers arithmetic since its all automated away.)

More information regarding the short story on its Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feeling_of_Power

The short story itself can be found online.



No but I forgot about that one. It's a good one too. Thank you.

The one I remember was about a "technician" in this world where nobody remembers the underpinnings of technology. There is a big competition to solve a known problem using the existing tech toys that are available. (something like a tech olympics) The technician wins the competition by using the equipment in non-standard ways and re-engineering their functions in ways nobody had ever done.

The judges are at a loss as to how he could have done this since it is not in any instruction manual. :-)




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