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One of my physics professors said that a key skill of good physicist is to be able to characterize a system quickly, prior to bringing in numbers or perhaps eve
by mwsherman 11y ago
One of my physics professors said that a key skill of good physicist is to be able to characterize a system quickly, prior to bringing in numbers or perhaps even equations. I’ve applied that to a lot of things.
It’s a proxy for developing good intuitions, but also for realizing that formalities often follow from intuitions, and not the reverse.
Language (OP) is organic, and formalities follow.
- wpietri 11y agoJust out of high school I was visiting some folks in the Amazon basin who did oilfield support work. (Long story.) They were talking about some building modest but non-trivial piece of engineering, like a big tank. One of them, a grizzled old guy who looked more like a motorcycle gang leader than an engineer, talked through the problem in just the way you describe, doing estimates of dimensions, weight, support structure, materials needed, and the like. No calculator, no paper, nothing but what he had in his head from years of experience. I had assumed that kind of work was done very formally, with equations and blueprints and the like. It blew me away to see somebody do something so familiarly, and I'm sure he was spot on. It definitely inspired me when I went to college.
- Ironchefpython 11y agoOne of my physics professors said that a key skill of good physicist is to be able to characterize a system quickly, prior to bringing in numbers or perhaps even equations. I’ve applied that to a lot of things. That cuts both ways: https://xkcd.com/793/ https://xkcd.com/793/