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I have a PhD in physics, and this is exactly how I learned the material. I mean, really learned it. I did fine in plain math classes, but never quite connected
by jeffwass 9y ago
I have a PhD in physics, and this is exactly how I learned the material. I mean, really learned it. I did fine in plain math classes, but never quite connected with the material.
Calculus and linear algebra both really only 'clicked' when applying them in my physics classes.
Physics is like the "word problems" we'd have in elementary sho, but for advanced math.
- j9461701 9y agoWith no offense intended to mathematicians, a lot of the higher level material in my pure math courses tends to be of the "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" type. Debating the finer points of details that are mostly irrelevant minutia, yet which are given just as much text space as serious results that actually do things. Physics' real-world origin prevents a lot of that sort of thing, and places emphasis on a practicality I find deeply appealing. Cauchy-Riemann equations are important, here's where they come from, here's what they do, bam done.
- nsomaru 9y agoAlthough, there have been many cases where results from Pure Mathematics have found to elegantly describe phenomena in Physics, often years after the initial result which might have been regarded as the equivalent of "angels dancing on a pinhead" by physicists of the time.