When overriding equals in Java, why does it not work to use a parameter other than Object?

Question

I ran into an interesting behavior recently. It seems that if I override .equals() to take a parameter other than Object, it doesn\'t get called. Can anyone explain to me

Answer 1

equals(Object) is overriding a super method; you can not override a super method without using the exact same signature (Well, there are some exceptions like covariant returntypes and exception).