Patents were never intended to protect broad, abstract concepts that can be implemented in many different ways.

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They relate better to abstract concepts and photos than to cold, hard facts.

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These figures of speech can be quite useful in taking complicated or abstract concepts and making them more understandable in tangible, visual ways.

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This view implies that Archimedes was less an engineer trying to manipulate the physical world than a pure mathematician interested only in abstract concepts.

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People represent abstract concepts with more immediate physical stand-ins.

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Semantic knowledge involves general, abstract concepts.

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One is the use of clay, or other materials, to help make difficult concepts less abstract.

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The challenge was part of Iconathon, a nationwide series of day-long workshops during which policy experts and graphic designers create abstract symbols that represent concepts in food, transportation and other public goods.

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In the same way, we use objects in our everyday lives to stand in for concepts that are too complex, or too abstract, to wholly grasp.

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These are concepts of great practical significance, even if they sound abstract and platitudinous, because they underlie one's sense of right and moral self-confidence.

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