Author: jeremy
Balance As A Student
As a student, there’s no shortage of things I could be doing to help my academic career. I could do some side research, I could read more about my field, I could network with other researchers, I could study more for my upcoming exams, I could work through another textbook, I could volunteer for any number of academic events, and the list goes on. There are so many things I could be doing to advance…
In Theory
Show Your Work
“We’re working with professionals here, not some young grad students!†“But what about the grad students like me who are trying to learn from our paper?†“I’m sure they will figure it out.â€
Frictionaless Learning
Watch a pretty video explaining a concept, and you will come out thinking you know everything. Sit down and try to work through a problem, however, and you will quickly realize you learned almost nothing. Learning requires a lot of slow movement, with a lot of friction.
Impress Versus Scare
I’m firmly convinced that physicists and mathematicians are some of the best marketers for their equations.
The Grit to Push Through
If you ask someone what the point of a mathematics or science degree is, chances are they will tell you a tale about becoming a great problem-solver and seeing the world through new eyes. This has become a sort of battle cry for many who want to encourage people to learn about science and mathematics. The problem-solving skills you develop during these degrees allows you to be valuable in a wide range of careers later…
Behind the Equations
In secondary school, students in physics learn about the kinematics equations. These equations describe the motion of objects under a constant acceleration (often gravity). There are several equations, which describe the relationships between acceleration, speed, position, and time. In particular, here is one of the equations: x(t) = x0 + v0t + at2/2. This equation lets us find the position at any time t, since the other parameters are known. You might even recognize this…
Quantities in Context
One of the differences between physics and mathematics is that mathematicians don’t tend to care about the units they are working with. In fact, they will usually consider all quantities as unitless1. This makes it easy to compare quantities, because one only has to look at the number itself. If you have two numbers, 5 and 9, you know that 9 is the larger quantity. In physics, however, the situation isn’t quite the same. That’s…
Black Boxes
Why is the area of a circle given by Ï€r2? I’m not asking why it’s in this specific form. Rather, I want to know why this is true. Can you tell me? Can you convince me? Let’s take something a bit more concrete. I bet you use a lamp every day to light up something in your home. Can you explain how the lamp works? What makes the bulb shine? How does the electricity work…
