@bold: That's exactly how it works, dude... :|
And Sakura didn't own the other half of the jutsu, which was instrumental in figuring out how the jutsu operated. The semantics are meaningless, she knew exactly how the jutsu operated from a single instance of viewing it with literally no info. If you remember, Kakashi was absolutely wrong in his observation at that time, and it took direct confrontation, first hand experience, and the accompanying jutsu just to confirm what Sakura already speculated.
Please. Minato knew nothing about it other than the fact that he has to be solid to absorb people. He didn't know the jutsus were the same, he didn't know that he didn't use "intangibility," he didn't know that he removed parts of his body from that S/T, and he actually saw it in action.
Sakura figured all of that out in an instant without any contact, just observation. Your bias has interfered with your ability to understand manga facts.