3 ms·

Exactly, how can one pass a postgraduate level exam 'without complex math'?

by sesm 2y ago

tzs 2y ago
It didn't say their exam was an entire postgraduate exam. It said they passed an exam consisting of questions from a postgraduate exam. I'd guess that if someone tried to take the entire exam it would include things that do require "complex math" (whatever that is). But you don't have to get to the parts of QM that require such math in order to cover things that exhibit the meat of QM, such as superposition, entanglement, and uncertainty principles. I'd guess that it was those kinds of things covered for these students and that is what they were tested on.
elashri 2y ago
I have doubt that anyone with a high school maths would even understand any of these (2023 MSc QM level Oxford exam) [1] . but reading the original source on the study [2] it seems like it is not this or any of what we expect. > This article is concerned with a new language for quantum, to which we refer as quantum picturalism (QPict) [5]. It is the subject of two books written by some of the authors, respectively entitled Picturing Quantum Processes [10] and Quantum in Pictures (QiP) [9]. The first one is the text book of an Oxford University postgraduate course that has been running for well over ten years now. The second one, remarkably, has no mathematical prerequisites beyond what is already taught to 6-7 year olds in the UK, namely angles [1] https://mmathphys.physics.ox.ac.uk/sitefiles/advanced-quantum-theory.pdf https://mmathphys.physics.ox.ac.uk/sitefiles/advanced-quantu... [2] https://oxford24.github.io/assets/act-papers/49_high_schoolers_excel_at_oxford.pdf https://oxford24.github.io/assets/act-papers/49_high_schoole...
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- mncharity 2y ago
  Quantum Picturalism: Learning Quantum Theory in High School https://arxiv.org/pdf/2312.03653 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2312.03653 seems a longer version. That QPict Quantum picturalism (2009) paper is https://arxiv.org/pdf/0908.1787 https://arxiv.org/pdf/0908.1787 . Picturing quantum processes - A first course in quantum theory and diagrammatic reasoning (2017) is https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/aleks.kissinger/PQP.pdf https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/aleks.kissinger/PQP.pdf (900+ pages; only 24 MB). Slides accessible: https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/ss2014/programme/Bob.pdf https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/ss2014/programme/Bob.pdf ; slides technical: https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/aleks.kissinger/slides/pdf/ak-vaxjo.pdf https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/aleks.kissinger/slides/pdf/ak... . Quantum in Pictures (2022) does not appear to be available open access.
- mncharity 2y ago
  > it is not this or any of what we expect String diagrams of category theory potentially make working with invariants easier by embedding them in graphical transformations, so they "just maintain themselves". Eg, electric circuit laws.[2] Or here, ZX-calculus/diagrams for QM.[3] [2] https://arxiv.org/pdf/2106.07763 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2106.07763 [3] Medium article: https://medium.com/quantinuum/how-zx-calculus-reveals-the-logic-and-processes-of-quantum-mechanics-to-everyone-944fc3bbbb2c https://medium.com/quantinuum/how-zx-calculus-reveals-the-lo... ; A taste (guest lecture notes): https://arxiv.org/pdf/2303.03163 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2303.03163 ; old slides https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/aleks.kissinger/slides/pdf/ak-vaxjo.pdf https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/aleks.kissinger/slides/pdf/ak... ; ZX-calculus for the working quantum computer scientist (2020; 90+ pages) https://arxiv.org/pdf/2012.13966 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2012.13966
- ValentinA23 2y ago
  https://x.com/coecke/status/1630551781624238081 https://x.com/coecke/status/1630551781624238081 Major milestone for ZX-alike calculi: now for all finite dimensions, with completeness theorem. I.e. for all dimensions any equation derivable using Hilbert space maths, is derivable with pictures! ZXW moreover allows for differentiation, integration and exponentiation. One of the high school student went on publishing a paper applying what he learned during the course, but I can't find it anymore.
  - ndriscoll 2y ago
    A sibling comment posted a 900 page pdf textbook[0] on the subject which mentions the word hydrogen once (discussing the Stern-Gerlach experiment). It doesn't mention atomic spectra at all. It doesn't mention the word "chemistry" at all. Here's the eigenfunctions and energy levels of the wavefunction for a hydrogen-like atom[1], equations derivable in the Hilbert space formalism which explain the Rydberg formula[2] and offer a path toward understanding molecular bonding. This stuff is usually covered in an introductory quantum mechanics course, which immediately requires you to work with infinite dimensional Hilbert spaces. The process calculus stuff is neat, but it's not really covering what you might call "quantum physics". The mentioned textbook says it's "about telling the story of quantum theory entirely in terms of pictures", but it doesn't even mention what quantum theory is about. It starts with saying a photon or an electron might be a typical system, but what's a photon and why do we think they exist? What does it mean to say electrons are quantum systems, and why do we think they are? A standard introductory text like Griffiths (which is also kind of unmotivated but at least covers the material) has e.g. this problem 5.11a: "Figure out electron configuration for the first two rows of the periodic table (up to neon)". [0] https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/aleks.kissinger/PQP.pdf https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/aleks.kissinger/PQP.pdf [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen-like_atom#Non-relativistic_wavefunction_and_energy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen-like_atom#Non-relativ... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rydberg_formula#For_any_hydrogen-like_element https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rydberg_formula#For_any_hydrog...

Exactly, how can one pass a postgraduate level exam 'without complex math'?

by sesm 2y ago

Exactly, how can one pass a postgraduate level exam 'without complex math'?

tzs 2y ago

It didn't say their exam was an entire postgraduate exam. It said they passed an exam consisting of questions from a postgraduate exam. I'd guess that if someone tried to take the entire exam it would include things that do require "complex math" (whatever that is). But you don't have to get to the parts of QM that require such math in order to cover things that exhibit the meat of QM, such as superposition, entanglement, and uncertainty principles. I'd guess that it was those kinds of things covered for these students and that is what they were tested on.

elashri 2y ago

I have doubt that anyone with a high school maths would even understand any of these (2023 MSc QM level Oxford exam) [1] . but reading the original source on the study [2] it seems like it is not this or any of what we expect. > This article is concerned with a new language for quantum, to which we refer as quantum picturalism (QPict) [5]. It is the subject of two books written by some of the authors, respectively entitled Picturing Quantum Processes [10] and Quantum in Pictures (QiP) [9]. The first one is the text book of an Oxford University postgraduate course that has been running for well over ten years now. The second one, remarkably, has no mathematical prerequisites beyond what is already taught to 6-7 year olds in the UK, namely angles [1] https://mmathphys.physics.ox.ac.uk/sitefiles/advanced-quantum-theory.pdf https://mmathphys.physics.ox.ac.uk/sitefiles/advanced-quantu... [2] https://oxford24.github.io/assets/act-papers/49_high_schoolers_excel_at_oxford.pdf https://oxford24.github.io/assets/act-papers/49_high_schoole...

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
mncharity 2y ago
Quantum Picturalism: Learning Quantum Theory in High School https://arxiv.org/pdf/2312.03653 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2312.03653 seems a longer version. That QPict Quantum picturalism (2009) paper is https://arxiv.org/pdf/0908.1787 https://arxiv.org/pdf/0908.1787 . Picturing quantum processes - A first course in quantum theory and diagrammatic reasoning (2017) is https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/aleks.kissinger/PQP.pdf https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/aleks.kissinger/PQP.pdf (900+ pages; only 24 MB). Slides accessible: https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/ss2014/programme/Bob.pdf https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/ss2014/programme/Bob.pdf ; slides technical: https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/aleks.kissinger/slides/pdf/ak-vaxjo.pdf https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/aleks.kissinger/slides/pdf/ak... . Quantum in Pictures (2022) does not appear to be available open access.
mncharity 2y ago
> it is not this or any of what we expect String diagrams of category theory potentially make working with invariants easier by embedding them in graphical transformations, so they "just maintain themselves". Eg, electric circuit laws.[2] Or here, ZX-calculus/diagrams for QM.[3] [2] https://arxiv.org/pdf/2106.07763 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2106.07763 [3] Medium article: https://medium.com/quantinuum/how-zx-calculus-reveals-the-logic-and-processes-of-quantum-mechanics-to-everyone-944fc3bbbb2c https://medium.com/quantinuum/how-zx-calculus-reveals-the-lo... ; A taste (guest lecture notes): https://arxiv.org/pdf/2303.03163 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2303.03163 ; old slides https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/aleks.kissinger/slides/pdf/ak-vaxjo.pdf https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/aleks.kissinger/slides/pdf/ak... ; ZX-calculus for the working quantum computer scientist (2020; 90+ pages) https://arxiv.org/pdf/2012.13966 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2012.13966
ValentinA23 2y ago
https://x.com/coecke/status/1630551781624238081 https://x.com/coecke/status/1630551781624238081 Major milestone for ZX-alike calculi: now for all finite dimensions, with completeness theorem. I.e. for all dimensions any equation derivable using Hilbert space maths, is derivable with pictures! ZXW moreover allows for differentiation, integration and exponentiation. One of the high school student went on publishing a paper applying what he learned during the course, but I can't find it anymore.
- ndriscoll 2y ago
  A sibling comment posted a 900 page pdf textbook[0] on the subject which mentions the word hydrogen once (discussing the Stern-Gerlach experiment). It doesn't mention atomic spectra at all. It doesn't mention the word "chemistry" at all. Here's the eigenfunctions and energy levels of the wavefunction for a hydrogen-like atom[1], equations derivable in the Hilbert space formalism which explain the Rydberg formula[2] and offer a path toward understanding molecular bonding. This stuff is usually covered in an introductory quantum mechanics course, which immediately requires you to work with infinite dimensional Hilbert spaces. The process calculus stuff is neat, but it's not really covering what you might call "quantum physics". The mentioned textbook says it's "about telling the story of quantum theory entirely in terms of pictures", but it doesn't even mention what quantum theory is about. It starts with saying a photon or an electron might be a typical system, but what's a photon and why do we think they exist? What does it mean to say electrons are quantum systems, and why do we think they are? A standard introductory text like Griffiths (which is also kind of unmotivated but at least covers the material) has e.g. this problem 5.11a: "Figure out electron configuration for the first two rows of the periodic table (up to neon)". [0] https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/aleks.kissinger/PQP.pdf https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/aleks.kissinger/PQP.pdf [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen-like_atom#Non-relativistic_wavefunction_and_energy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen-like_atom#Non-relativ... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rydberg_formula#For_any_hydrogen-like_element https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rydberg_formula#For_any_hydrog...