Is space as big as the internet?

Philz0r · 12 Apr 2011 at 21:26

in the beginning there was nothing, then Chuck Norris round house kicked that nothingness in the face and said "Get a job!"

Judgeneo · 12 Apr 2011 at 21:31

w11tho said:
You'll be happy to know that any physics you see in an undergraduate course has firm mathematical basis! In fact, if you get an opportunity to do a course in functional analysis, it's a good exercise to go back through your quantum mechanics courses and see if you can fill in the gaps.

I've got a module on it next year and another the year after so I should be able to do that eventually

Its more the general physics attitude towards maths that annoys me, I hope to be a bit more thorough if/when I do my PhD

w11tho · 12 Apr 2011 at 21:38

My personal viewpoint is that there's a time and a place for mathematical rigour. The primary goal for a physicist is to construct a model that agrees with experimental results, not to produce a model that allows mathematicians to sleep at night.

This has a two-fold advantage. It allows the physicist to get on with things they're good at, and it creates interesting and difficult problems for mathematicians.

I also abhor mathematical snobbery. Many mathematics students I've met look down on physics courses because they claim they are mathematically sloppy. Almost invariably, the cause of this is that the physics course is using mathematics they don't know how to interpret properly.

[FnG]magnolia · 12 Apr 2011 at 21:41

Valentino said:
I think the internet is bigger, I mean for a start everything in the universe that we can see can be put on the internet.

Thoughts?

You've convinced me with your startling insights and plethora of evidence. Good job.

Judgeneo · 12 Apr 2011 at 21:49

w11tho said:
I also abhor mathematical snobbery. Many mathematics students I've met look down on physics courses because they claim they are mathematically sloppy. Almost invariably, the cause of this is that the physics course is using mathematics they don't know how to interpret properly.

The courses themselves aren't so much sloppy (all the ones I've done will at least mention a reason why they can make this jump, often followed by a joke about mathematicians) but the way that a good chunk of the physics students I've met use maths is sloppy, often so much so that its wrong. So you can see how a lot of them are snobbish.

The snobbery isn't just limited towards physics either, I've yet to find a discipline that my maths friends respect academically thats not mathematics

w11tho · 12 Apr 2011 at 21:58

Judgeneo said:
The courses themselves aren't so much sloppy (all the ones I've done will at least mention a reason why they can make this jump, often followed by a joke about mathematicians) but the way that a good chunk of the physics students I've met use maths is sloppy, often so much so that its wrong. So you can see how a lot of them are snobbish.

I can see why they might think that their friends aren't mathematically competent. But as I mentioned, it's often the case that the physicists use of the mathematics can be justified, it's just that students (physics and mathematics) aren't aware of it!

Judgeneo said:
The snobbery isn't just limited towards physics either, I've yet to find a discipline that my maths friends respect academically thats not mathematics

I think that type of attitude changes when they realise most physicists (for example) know more mathematics than they do.

Valentino · 12 Apr 2011 at 22:02

krooton said:
Just did some low-level stalking of the OP, 99% of his threads are questions.

krooton said:
Ah crap, just stalked myself and around 95% of my threads are questions

What exactly do you expect to discuss on a discussion forum, if the thread doesn't pose a question to discuss? It's not like this is a simple yes or no question.

Rexton · 12 Apr 2011 at 22:04

Valentino said:
I mean for a start everything in the universe that we can see can be put on the internet.

The visible horizon is nothing in comparison to the suggested size of the universe. I think I just lost an IQ point reading this.

nydryl · 12 Apr 2011 at 22:06

Judgeneo said:
The courses themselves aren't so much sloppy (all the ones I've done will at least mention a reason why they can make this jump, often followed by a joke about mathematicians) but the way that a good chunk of the physics students I've met use maths is sloppy, often so much so that its wrong. So you can see how a lot of them are snobbish.

The snobbery isn't just limited towards physics either, I've yet to find a discipline that my maths friends respect academically thats not mathematics

Ah you're just meeting all the wrong mathematicians, some of us are pretty amazed by the concepts you physicists are expected to deal with whilst having to keep up to speed with maths at the same time. I always get the feeling that physicists are as good as mathematicians are at maths but have the extra physics knowledge to boot.