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12:03 AM
@SirCumference Hmm... 'looking it up' is (in my experience, in physics) a much more superficial level of understanding than you might think. It can definitely help (and help a lot), but if I haven't spent the hours figuring things out 'the hard way', a 20 minute video (or even the ideas/concepts explained therein) won't stick in my brain very long. Whereas, while I can't remember any of questions I did in undergrad, there's something that seems to have stuck or gotten hardwired into my brain
 
12:16 AM
@Mithrandir24601 What do you mean "the hard way"? Practice?
Tbh I'm spending countless hours each day to get a true intuition on this. I'd really hate to lose that...
 
@SirCumference Spending hours going mad on infuriatingly difficult questions
 
;-;
I guess I haven't been practicing as much as I could...
But jeez. 24 hours in a day just isn't enough time.
 
@SirCumference If it were easy, you should do something harder :P so you seem to be heading along the right track ;)
@SirCumference I know people who operated on a non-24 hour pattern in undergrad...
 
@Mithrandir24601 I'd like to be one of those people, but tbh I have to be a wizard to keep up with all this.
 
@SirCumference Well then, you'll just have to learn to be a wizard :P
you'll be fine - it'll all work out in the end. You might question your sanity more often than not, but you'll get a much better understanding in the process
 
12:24 AM
@Mithrandir24601 True. But so far I've spent the vast majority of my time as an 18-19 year old locked in a room with a book
Or occasionally with other people and a book
 
@SirCumference I was probably trolling
 
@0celo7 ???
 
or I was in my denial stage
it's hard to tell
 
Sep 23 '17 at 15:03, by 0ßelö7
Oh, just jobless.
But 8 stars
 
oh, that
yeah you're an astronomer
 
12:25 AM
@SirCumference Read Lev Grossman's the Magicians trilogy
 
@Mithrandir24601 I wasn't literal when I said I wanted to be a magical wizard.
@0celo7 So?
 
@SirCumference You shouldn't expect to get a job in your field, directly
 
@SirCumference I'm not kidding - his explanation of what it's like to go from being at school and finding everything super-easy to an environment where suddenly, everything is nightmarishly difficult and you just don't have the time to even try to learn everything, then on from that into the real world is absolutely spot-on
(along with numerous other superb things that make the trilogy worth reading. Not just the first book, which by itself is nothing spectacular, but the trilogy as a whole is outstanding)
 
@0celo7 True. Do you have any recommendations for an engineering class?
 
heat transfer
 
12:31 AM
Isn't that in statistical mechanics?
 
...and that's why you need to take engineering classes
 
@0celo7 ?
 
your statement is so preposterous that you will basically die in the real world without help
 
I mean I'm not going to have the chance to take too many engineering classes. My schedule's mostly packed with a double major and 2 minors. I'd need to pick wisely
@0celo7 Wait what ;-;
 
double majoring is a scam
 
12:35 AM
@0celo7 I mean it's Math and Physics. Given that many of the classes overlap and a lot of the extra math could help me as an astronomer, it seems like a good choice.
Though I don't see this landing me a job very well...
 
It's not clear that anyone has ever cared about a double major
All it seems to do is make you take more classes that you don't want to take
 
Yeah. But still tho, the Physics major requires up to Calc III, Linear Alg and Diff Eq. It even says "Students who intend to continue Physics in graduate school are strongly encouraged to take more mathematics classes than are required".
And if I'm taking so many, a few more won't hurt much. At the very least, a math major looks better than a physics major.
 
So physics major requires first semester freshman math
How exactly does that line up with a math major?
 
@0celo7 By that reasoning the major is a scam, because it makes you take classes you don't want to take. Yet behold: many of us actually liked enough classes in one or even two departments that we majored in things without taking a single unwanted class!
 
@0celo7 Well I finished the math requirement last semester...
@0celo7 Well, Analysis can't hurt to know, especially if I want to understand GR well.
 
12:43 AM
I think it might be indicative of some form of mental illness
 
Intro to Topology and Intro to Diff Eq would both satisfy some requirements for the math major, and they're also useful if I want to do cosmology.
 
@SirCumference I think we've been over this. To understand GR like a physicist does, even "well", there's basically no analysis involved.
 
Take topology. 'S fine m'dude
 
Um
I didn't mean to delete that if I did
I tried to edit to say "not possible to take no unwanted classes"
@BalarkaSen It would be point-set.
 
@0celo7 Okay, perhaps. But the other classes would certainly help. And with those, I just need to take Real Analysis I and II and Algebra I and II.
 
12:46 AM
That's why I was objecting earlier but on closer look it's good for the soul
 
@SirCumference Yeah, "real analysis" will not help you understand GR
Unless that real analysis is insane and is Paley-Littlewood theory and other insane things
 
@0celo7 Ok, one class might not. But real analysis sounds so cool. Infinities!
Before that's innuendoized
I mean, Honors Algebra I is just cool because it gives me a new perspective on algebra and geometry
Even though it's ridiculously hard
@0celo7 What's exactly the difference between Real and Complex analysis, btw? Are they that different?
 
Very
 
I'd think working with complex numbers would be much harder and, well, complex
 
In complex analysis being once differentiable means infinitely differentiable
That's the fact which makes complex analysis easier
 
12:52 AM
@BalarkaSen What what
How
 
Hehe
 
So there's only two classes, non-differentiable and differentiable?
 
locally, yes.
 
What is this
 
@Sir Let's play a guessing game. Suppose you have a function $f : \Bbb C \to \Bbb C$
How would you define $f'(z)$?
Try to find the right definition.
 
12:54 AM
with real analysis, there's enough pathologies possible that when it comes to series expansions it's hard to say a lot in general. with complex analysis, things are nice enough that you can ask how things fit together in interesting ways
 
OK, I'm actually getting sidetracked...
 
That's good, you're being productive. Instead of spending 40 minutes on the meta theory of selecting the right courses you're talking about actual mathematics
 
@Semiclassical the insane thing is that the interesting objects in real analysis aren't even necessarily continuous...
 
less regularity more power lmao
 
12:57 AM
ugh
I guess another way to put it is that, in real analysis, "differentiable" doesn't tell you a lot
 
@BalarkaSen $$\frac{1}{2\pi i}\int_{C}\frac{f(w)}{w-z}dw$$
 
whereas in complex analysis it tells you a ton
 
pls stop
 
mmm cauchy
 
differentiability in complex analysis is a PDE condition
 
12:58 AM
@Semiclassical it's just elliptic theory in disguise.
the right thing to note is not that complex differentiability is magic
it's that harmonic functions are fucking magic
 
^^^^
 
100% true
 
laplace's equation is great
though I would still elevate complex analysis a bit, since it's talking about 2D harmonic functions in particular and how nice those are
 
@BalarkaSen what is a Poincare geodesic
 
1:02 AM
vOv
 
something something Teichmuller space
idk
too hard
 
1:43 AM
@BalarkaSen "then $M$ cannot carry a metric with quasi-positive scalar curvature" ...do they mean nonnegative lol
@BalarkaSen I need algebra help
What does the following mean: for any finite subset $g_1,\dotsc, g_N$ in $\pi_1(M)$, there exists a normal subgroup $N$ of finite index such that $g_i\notin N$ for all $i$
I know what the words mean, but what does it "mean"
and why does, say, $\Bbb Z^n$ satisfy it
 
2:15 AM
well think about subgroups of $\Bbb Z^n$ of the form $k_1 \Bbb Z \times \cdots \times k_n \Bbb Z$
if you choose $k_1, \cdots, k_n$ carefully you can miss any finite set of elements you have
pick something relatively prime to them etc
 
yeah, I kinda had that already
but what does that condition up there give you
heuristically
what does it say about the group
 
@BalarkaSen like I know Morwen will ask me if it's true for his favorite manifold
 
so given any finite set of deck transformations you can pick a finite sheeted cover which does not have those symmetries
something like that
hmmm
I wonder if this holds for the free group. I have a sneaking suspicion it doesn't
Eg $F_2$ say
 
the "finite index" is kind of mysterious to me
@BalarkaSen this spin geometry book is actually amazing
I might have to do some significant reading of it
 
vzn
2:35 AM
@SirCumference software :P
re the erotic mathematician, saw his 15m intro to his movie today & enjoyed him on colbert wow gotta get his book, amazing website like movie star, like a young Kaku :P o_O vimeo.com/17906654 cc.com/video-clips/xj9d66/the-colbert-report-edward-frenkel edwardfrenkel.com
 
everyone loves eddie boi
 
@Semiclassical I need your EM expertise
i think I have an integral that only an EM master can do
 
@Semiclassical $$\int_{|x|=r}x^ix^j \,d\sigma$$
 
2:44 AM
I think it's $\delta_{ij}$ maybe with a factor of $r^{n+1}$
 
yeah, that's my instinct as well
 
and some pi's and shit
 
yeah, factor of $1/n$ as well
 
@Semiclassical yes!
how did you get this magic
 
lol
Because all of the $i=j$ cases together should give $\int_{|x|=r} r^2\,d\sigma$
 
2:47 AM
mm
I think one should consider the matrix $\int_{|x|=r}\mathbf x\otimes\mathbf x$
this should be isotropic, so it's $\propto I_n$
 
or, more simply: $$\int_{|x|=r} x^i x^j\,d\sigma =C\delta_{ij}\implies \int_{|x|=r}x^j x^j \,d\sigma = C\delta_{jj}$$
 
then take the trace to figure out what $C$ is, yeah
I did this integral in high school
 
right.
 
but I had some bullshit argument I'm sure
I'd like to be a bit more careful here
 
right.
 
2:49 AM
then again, I have forsaken rigor already
what's the use in forcing it here
 
Am I right in thinking Schur's lemma is relevant here? I'm having vague recollectiosn
hmm, maybe I"m remembering something else
 
@vzn I mean I'm a comp sci minor
 
@Semiclassical Just argue that the matrix is rotationally invariant, and this is only possible if it's diagonal and every eigenvalue is the same
I think that's right
 
right
And then yeah trace is the thing to say
 
vzn
3:07 AM
@SirCumference ok is there any engr that appeals to you? honestly my next highest personal recommendation would be fluid mechanics/ dynamics =D (ps am aware others around here would differ highly...) if you want something more practical try "statics + dynamics"
@BalarkaSen looks like hes dabbled in physics... any idea there?
 
Nope
I think he's worked in the intersection
 
vzn
seems hes into interpretations of QM + "neo-realism" (ringbauer et al) nytimes.com/2015/02/22/opinion/sunday/… also digital physics nytimes.com/2014/02/16/opinion/sunday/…
 
idk man i dont follow the public figureheads of science
 
vzn
lol ("idk man") seems a bit )( more than a "public figurehead"...
 
well there are lots of public faces of science who are good scientists
didnt really mean disrespect in that
but eddie boi is definitely a public figurehead of mathematics
 
vzn
3:16 AM
yeah but theres also a lot of dissing of those (similar) "figures" eg in here, some examples. anyway, with frankel, easy target, lots of snark is justified, so have at it :P
 
i think you're equating snark with meme
eddie is meme worthy
neil degrasse tyson is snark worthy
 
vzn
lol maybe the subtle )( distinction might have eluded me
@BalarkaSen yes exactly my allusion lol
 
do you see his tweets
they are so r/iamverysmart
that guy might know physics more than me but he's full of crap
 
vzn
reminds me, trivia: guess where the word snark comes from... :)
@BalarkaSen yeah NdGT says some questionable stuff although havent looked into it closely. probably someone has written it up somewhere tho... met a fan of his at my job, saw his local lecture... geek nirvana
 
@Semiclassical how do you feel about this notational device:
 
3:22 AM
that curly bracket?
 
yeah
 
I've wondered about that kind of construction myself
I'm never confident it looks good.
 
@SirCumference That can be a hugely frustrating experience, but it is easy to overlook how valuable the hours of struggle actually are. Repeated failure is often a powerful teacher.
Which doesn't mean I don't look back on certain sleepless nights as wasted.
 
3:38 AM
@dmckee Indeed. when I began doing geometric analysis the standard tricks took me hours to figure out and I had many sleepless nights. Now I spend more time worrying that I'm not giving enough details in my writing because it all seems so trivial now
 
4:01 AM
So the Born approximation is bullshit, right? :-)
 
 
1 hour later…
 
1 hour later…
6:09 AM
1
Q: Does mass only manifest itself only at the instant when the particle wavefunction collapses?

user6760Imagine I'm doing an "old fashion" double slit experiment with buckyball and result showing an interference pattern, I'm wondering what happens to the mass of the buckyball before it hits the screen? Suppose if I'm being granted an one-time miracle exemption from the laws of physics and shrink my...

This question will likely be closed due to too many what-ifs
 
 
1 hour later…
7:10 AM
Astronomers should start measuring parallax with radians
 
7:20 AM
@JohnRennie hey ! Good Morning :)
@Secret sup !
 
7:49 AM
Does anyone have recommendations for lecture notes on the feynman path integral?
I poked around online and found a couple but nothing super great
 
 
1 hour later…
9:12 AM
top of the morning
 
@Slereah [people don't actually say that] Mornin'
 
Are you saying I'm not a people
 
9:28 AM
Howdy
 
tappata mannen to you laddies
 
tips Irish cap
 
facepalm
 
maidin mhaith
 
9:36 AM
lmao
where do you find these things
goddamn
 
it is a standard meme
There is a wojak of all nations
here is me
Help I'm running out of symbols for functions
 
and balarka, regarding about the 4'33", here's a related one also by John Cage, this one has a more obvious content and is zen like:
 
I already used $fgh\phi$
all the classics
 
9:43 AM
Hang on, Unicode has about 100 000 symbols. Just pick one.
 
I can't put the penis hieroglyph for a function
That would be incongruous
 
@DawoodibnKareem I actually might lookup later on how many different types of spirals are in unicode, cause I like to notate the most significant unknown variable with a spiral in pen writing
 
@Slereah I think you could probably use a penis for a couple of different functions.
 
@Secret love this
Good video
 
9:49 AM
I actually mean
 
This also raised an interesting sociological question: Why are pseudoscientists so good at the human factor while us legitimate scientists don't
 
Ironically it doesn't display on my browser
I guess they were too prudish to make a vector dong
 
@Secret Well that's not true :P
Look at the millions and billions of hanks, cranks and crackpots out there
 
I mean, why are they so good at selling their products while we kinda struggle
 
They don't have the basic ability to debate with a person without having a PTSD. That's not characteristics of a stable human being, rather a toppled one.
 
9:51 AM
ah i see
 
The problem is that many, many muppets aren't going to watch that video. Just like astrology and other forms of charlatanism.
 
Law of averages
Most cranks are terrible at selling their ideas and are laughing stocks
Some just happen to be better
 
I used to teach various software development related disciplines at a certain polytechnic (that I'd better not name). I learnt on my first day in that job that my department also offered courses in homeopathy. I would have resigned if I hadn't been desperate for work at the time.
 
The correct point here is that homeopathy is the earliest example of naturalism in medical science. Yes, the medical value of their theory is close to 0 and with probability close to 1 it's nothing more than a placebo - that dilution increases potency is inconsistent with our understand of modern chemistry.
 
@BalarkaSen Is it
Medical science goes back pretty far
And I don't think homeopathy is that old
 
9:55 AM
Oh not your greek shit again
pls stop that shite
ancient greeks were savages
 
Sorry if they just INVENTED ALL MODERN CIVILIZATION
 
thats why they got rekt by THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE
 
> that dilution increases potency is inconsistent with our understand of modern chemistry
Indeed, it basically say that if you have pure water you suddenly can heal things in it
 
The Roman Empire was still full of heathens when they conquered Greece
Or do you mean the fake Holy Roman Empire
 
On the point of the final section of that video, while the situation is ok for the clinics and hospitals in australia, it is exactly what is depicted in the video when people see a doctor in hong kong. They literally have only 2 hours limit to tell all their symptoms, and then they will be sent out and asked to grab their medicine later
 
9:58 AM
@Secret But, as explained well by the video, what it is is a good example of general treatment of a patient.
Huh, p cool
@Slereah the fake one, yeah
 
Did they ever do anything to Greece
Apart from sacking the easter roman empire
 
Oh dear! If you study for a Diploma in Homeopathy in my country, our government will subsidise your study, to a total of (equivalent of) US$15600 over three years.
 
hmmm
 
@BalarkaSen I think personalised medicine might be getting there but I have not followed the advancement of that field for a while so I am not sure of the specifics
 
I knew my taxes were being well spent! NOT!
 
10:01 AM
@DawoodibnKareem You're just saying that because you can't get a diploma in homeopathy
 
@BalarkaSen I bet I could if I wanted to.
 
You're a hater
 
I'm sure I could get a diploma in homeopathy
at the diploma mill
 
@BalarkaSen I hate charlatanism, yes.
 
I can just send the coupon at the back of the comic book
 
10:02 AM
I dab at you haters
REEEEEEEE
 
@Slereah Is that where bunnies come from?
 
Is there an explanation of homeopathy using quantum mysticism
That'd be 11/10
 
@DawoodibnKareem No they're from Easter Island
@BalarkaSen almost certainly
 
Ah yes, but you only need 10^-30 of an explanation for it to be true.
 
@DawoodibnKareem There is a few lessons we can learn from the pseudoscience and spiritual people. The issue is that the charlartan to genuine ratio is too high to worth it
 
10:05 AM
@Slereah Did you know
Grothendieck listed Hahnemann as one of the visionaries who saw ahead of their time
 
Who
 
Alexander Grothendieck
 
Do you mean Hanuman
 
the crazy algebraist
 
The monkey king
Oh, founder of homeopathy
 
10:07 AM
lmao
tfw Hanuman invented homeopathy
 
Is he related to Hanuman, perhaps
 
I choked while eating a strawberry
 
Hm
 
Oops, my mistake. It's over four years, not three. How can someone spend four years of their life studying this nonsense?
 
That's a cheetaalatan god or something...
for some reason, Ihave this weird belief that all charlatans are cheetahs
i mean, to first order, they are even spelt simiilarly
 
10:15 AM
Too long
the 18 mutants
 
@Secret was Grothendieck all along
 
lol, I wish I had even half of his mathematical prowess
 
its a DESSIN DE'NFANTS im sure
or however that is spelled
 
If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants.
-- Isaac Newton

In the sciences, we are now uniquely privileged to sit side by side with the giants on whose shoulders we stand.
-- Gerald Holton

If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants were standing on my shoulders.
-- Hal Abelson

Mathematicians stand on each other's shoulders.
-- Gauss

Mathematicians stand on each other's shoulders while computer scientists stand on each other's toes.
 
Love that
 
10:20 AM
Both physicists and mathematicians are known to stood on each other shoulders throughout the course of history
 
Hal Abelson's quote is myscorewhenthedrama2good/10
 
Medicine makes people ill, mathematics make them sad and theology makes them sinful. (Martin Luther)
The good Christian should beware of mathematicians and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and confine man in the bonds of Hell. (St. Augustine)
Not wrong
 
It is true
 
maths is beautiful, how is it hell
 
"Now we'll prove the theorem. In fact I'll prove it all by myself."
"The highest moments in the life of a mathematician are the first few moments after one has proved the result, but before one finds the mistake. "
 
10:30 AM
happens very often when I tried to divide by zero 2 years ago
the mistake then send me to hell
anyway...
THIS GUY IS A HISTORICIAN?!
So..., debrogile is one of those few philosophers that managed to turn his philosophy into physics
 
"Golden rule of deriving: never trust any result that was proved after 11 PM."
 
and out comes quantum mechanics as he inspired others
Don't drink and derive, you will crash
 
To be fair to St Augustine, in his day, "mathematician" was more-or-less synonymous with "astrologer".
 
wah...
it also reminds me of a piece of history on how extra dimensions was once thought of as fictional nonsense back then, and then suddenly physicists start to spam it like crazy, finding how useful the idea is
 
I might get 10k rep one day
 
10:36 AM
> 8,993 reputation
1007 to go
 
smfin like that
 
"N. had the habit of simply writing answers to homework assignments on the board (the method of solution being, of course, obvious) when he was asked how to solve problems. One time one of his students tried to get more helpful information by asking if there was another way to solve the problem. N. looked blank for a moment, thought, and then answered, "Yes". "
 
I often don't just stop at asking whether there are other ways to solve a problem, but to ask about the set of all possible ways to solve the problem and what do they have in common
 
Russian physicist Igor Tamm won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1958. During the Russian revolution, he was a physics professor at the University of Odessa in the Ukraine. Food was in short supply, so he made a trip to a nearby village in search of food. While he was in the village, a bunch of anti-communist bandits surrounded the town.

The leader was suspicious of Tamm, who was dressed in city clothes. He demanded to know what Tamm did for a living. He explained that he was a university professor looking for food. “What subject?,” the bandit leader asked. Tamm replied “I teach mathematics.”
And people say calculus is never useful
 
Hey people !
 
10:46 AM
tanuj: see my ping
 
I did
 
Excellant video from 3B1B
it even explains where $p=\hbar k$ came from
-1
Q: Why the nonexistence of a "one sentence layman phrase" for the de Broglie relation $p=\hbar k$?

Secret(My question seems most likely will be considered a duplicate of OP (and possibly 1, 2, 3), but it turns out to be WAY TOO LONG as a comment in OP, and the system has deleted the corresponding chat room due to 15 days of no answers thus I asked here instead for a clarification) Background (All i...

and no, it is not a laymen explanation, but I don't think this can be laymenised
 
"Many of Mostowski's wartime results - on the hierarchy of projective sets, on arithmetically definable sets of natural numbers, and on consequences of the axiom of constructibility in descriptive set theory - were lost when his apartment was destroyed during the uprising. He had to choose whether to flee with a thick notebook containing those results or with bread. He chose bread."
 
imagine if he don't. then descriptive set theory would have advance a lot further
 
"In addition to his mathematical and religious interests, Napier was often perceived as a magician, and is thought to have dabbled in alchemy and necromancy. It was said that he would travel about with a black spider in a small box, and that his black rooster was his familiar spirit."
 
11:03 AM
Magic is mysterious, and onyl very few understood it
 
"Russian physicist and future Nobel Prize winner Pyotr Kapitsa when he was young was on exchange in the Rutherford laboratory. After the term was over he wanted to stay and work there, but Rutherford wasn't in favor of it. Then Kapitsa asked "what is a usual error margin in your lab's experiments?" Bewildered Rutherford answered "About 3%". "There's 30 scientists employed in your lab. So with your precision you won't even notice me!". Rutherford so liked this what Kapitsa was accepted."
 
11:47 AM
0
Q: How Exactly Superluminal Travel Become A Backward Time Travel

Kenneth KhoThis just doesn't make sense, I read everywhere and they all seem to imply that backward time travel is done by superluminal travel. I'm thinking this, imagine i travel at 0,9c, then in my opinion i only travel for 1 day, but for the observer it's been 3 days. Same goes with 0,9999999999999999999...

I repeat:
There is nonlocal influence
There is unreallity
There might be retrocausality
There might be CTCs
But
There is no FTL signalling
 
12:20 PM
It even has a chapter on Gödel incompleteness
He uses $\overset{\text{def}}{=}$
How gauche
The best is of course $\overset{\Delta}{=}$
 
12:44 PM
Consider a statement involving a countable set and a statement involving an uncountable set. If I were to switch quantifiers in a suitable order, I wonder what will their finite analogues look like and whether they are different...
A better way to phrase is:
What is the essence of uncountability, other than the fact that it cannot inject into the naturals (or other countable sets)
 
There exists a bijection between an uncountable set and some of its subsets
 
but countable sets also have that property, so it is not sufficient to distinguish between the two concepts
Other weird things that seemed to be unique to uncountable sets is that they are the only ones that can have positive lesbegue measure, as countable additivity will mean all countable sets are measure zero
 
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