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Trying to learn to solve partial differential equations. These relate rates of functions of multiple variables and are used for describing the dynamics of a sys
by meltyness 4y ago
Trying to learn to solve partial differential equations. These relate rates of functions of multiple variables and are used for describing the dynamics of a system, and their solutions make predictions about how the system evolves.
- by hand
- without any experience writing meaningfully heterogenous proofs
- without being able to construct any relevant equations from models
- without a good understanding of the origin of Bessel or Airy series
- without having lists of criteria committed or understanding of when series solutions are called for
- without understanding solving systems of differential equations
- without any significant motivating application to strive towards at the time
- without considerable practice teaching myself things, since the lectures felt like a kitchen knife piano ballet https://youtu.be/x93DsA7UHhs https://youtu.be/x93DsA7UHhs
I eventually broke down and sat in the library for hours at a time making a handwritten copy of the exposition of the textbook, hoping something would stick. I was passed.
- metadat 4y agoWow, that is a dramatic comparison with the kitchen knife ballet! "I was passed" - as in good, you passed the course? Or the instructor gave you a pass?
- meltyness 4y agoI don't feel like I deserved a passing grade for the amount of knowledge I walked away from the course with, but I didn't question it. As I've matured intellectually, I realize that not every course is a neat parlor trick you can regurgitate on a whiteboard 5 years after the fact having only attended the lectures, at least I don't have that gift. I guess it is just that I couldn't find myself bewildered by any of the content, so as to want to encode it, a "great, something else to look up" mindset.