Aye, a BSc is what i was thinking. After a quick look around it seems that at the 101 level you do maths modules, which I assume are both a refresher and an introduction to the kind of maths you'll need to understand to do the course. I've never done any computer programming before though... erk.
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Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Yeah, all physics degrees have a certain amount of maths in the first year to make sure everyone's up to scratch to do the later stuff. The computing thing is much less relevant at an undergrad level, I was thinking more masters/PhD - the most you'll have to do is some basic data handling for the lab skills courses (Excel, Visual Basic, that sort of thing - not even real programming) and maybe a little introductory C/C++/Java in your final-year project. There will be taught courses in object-oriented programming as well, almost certainly. I really wouldn't worry about it.
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john eden
male pale and stale
Wiki quotes says it was misattributed:
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
Though these words are regularly attributed to Voltaire, they were first used by Evelyn Beatrice Hall, writing under the pseudonym of Stephen G Tallentyre in The Friends of Voltaire (1906), as a summation of Voltaire's beliefs on freedom of thought and expression.
Another possible source for the quote was proposed by Norbert Guterman, editor of "A Book of French Quotations," who noted a letter to M. le Riche (February 6, 1770) in which Voltaire is quoted as saying: "Monsieur l'abbé, I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write" ("Monsieur l'abbé, je déteste ce que vous écrivez, mais je donnerai ma vie pour que vous puissiez continuer à écrire"). This remark, however, does not appear in the letter.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
I've only ever heard it attributed to Voltaire. I was drinking in the Foundry on Friday (hateful Shoreditch hipster that I am) and amongst all the pretentious shite and meaningless drivel scrawled all over the walls in the men's bogs I saw "I despise what you have to say and I'm going to kick your fucking head in - Voltaire", which raised a smile.
big up for shouting out S.E. Hinton
but at least in the places I've seen undercover cops, they have sometimes worn big awful poofy white sneakers- jock-type sneakers. That and their necks (equally big & jock-like) are one of the first clues. I remember that from the Miami FTAA protests and many a New York protest.
Of course the non-local undercovers and Feds are much harder to spot until you see them chatting with a swat team or two around the corner from the demo they were supposedly helping organize..
and then there was the one who turned up in my PhD program 6 years later and we realized we had been in the same jail in DC on different sides... I never woulda spotted her..
Slothrop
Tight but Polite
Yeah, I think that's the case. It'd probably be worth doing the A-level as an evening course or something if you could, or at least picking up a textbook and trying to get up to speed on the relevant areas before starting a uni level physics course. You don't have to be a maths genius, but as far as I could tell from undergrads I knew it helps a lot to be familiar and comfortable with a few areas - understanding what different standard functions look like, basic calculus, and solving simultaneous equations spring to mind - before you start, since that's an important part of the language you use to talk about stuff.
You'll probably find that if you're motivated, reasonably well taught, and generally a bit older and wiser than you were when you did it originally, you'll find it's a lot easier than you remembered.
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andrewdigits
andrew.digits
Bouncers
I often turn my phone off to save battery (weird, I know), but what's confusing me is this: twice I have been into clubs and been searched, when extracting my phone, wallet and keys the bouncer looked through my wallet (nothing of interest), followed by asking me if I could turn my phone on.
Is there something in particular my turned off phone could be masquerading as?
I often turn my phone off to save battery (weird, I know), but what's confusing me is this: twice I have been into clubs and been searched, when extracting my phone, wallet and keys the bouncer looked through my wallet (nothing of interest), followed by asking me if I could turn my phone on.
Is there something in particular my turned off phone could be masquerading as?
S
simon silverdollar
Guest
it's about qualifications on the truth of a proposition- whether something is possibly true, or necessarily true, or impossible.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-modal/
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
He just wants to see if you got an embarrassingly soppy photo of your SO or pet as the backrgound screen image. Either that or he's just being a dick for the sake of it, because he can.
4linehaiku
Repetitive
Maybe a bit late to this question, but my girlfriend does an Astrophysics degree and the maths she does is really quite intense. I did a maths A level and also maths for my degree for the first 2 years, and I can't understand any of it. This is 3rd year though, so I guess you'd be working up to it. If you're really enthusiastic for it and are willing to do the work then give it a shot, but I wouldn't assume astrophysics is 'easy' maths.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Is she doing modules in general relativity/cosmology, by any chance?
4linehaiku
Repetitive
Nah those come next year (4 year courses in Scotland). I asked her about it and she claims that the maths isn't actually that hard, you just have to do lots of work.
That's probably a more reliable source than 'what I reckon when I stare over her shoulder at notes I know nothing about'. Clearly I'm just rubbish at maths, but this is not news by any means.
That's probably a more reliable source than 'what I reckon when I stare over her shoulder at notes I know nothing about'. Clearly I'm just rubbish at maths, but this is not news by any means.
vimothy
yurp
This the subject of current research here at Manchester University. Basically, all the universities realise that physics at A level has become more qualitative, and that the maths A level itself has become a programme in search of a qualification, which is to say, not terribly useful beyond the final test. With that in mind, they are experimenting with various transitional practices designed to aid weaker students (maths support centres, diagnostics and targeted learning, peer support, etc, etc -- I've even heard of physics programmes spending the first year doing little other than maths). IMHO, if you are interested and will work, you already stand at a considerable advantage to many students on any given degree programme. Everyone is not expected to be brilliant at maths. Quite the opposite, in fact.
EDIT: Obviously, a lot depends on which uni you go to, what their intake's like, etc.
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Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Apparently this is standard for physics degree courses in Germany. Which must sort the men from the boys, at the very least.
nomadthethird
more issues than Time mag
Wasn't it Einstein who said why waste useful brain capacity memorizing things that you could easily leave to a calculator?
I don't "get" tensors. Or at least I didn't the last time I tried to. My approach to maths is very much a matter of reculer pour mieux sauter. One way of dealing with this is to not insist on "getting" things, but just learn how to recognise and use them at the "oh yes, that's one of those, you do this..." level. Get on your knees and pray, and belief will come, seems to be the philosophy.
Feynman had a cheerfully instrumentalist view of mathematics, which he seems to have regarded as basically book-keeping. The real interest for him was elsewhere. I have absolutely no idea how his mind worked.
Feynman had a cheerfully instrumentalist view of mathematics, which he seems to have regarded as basically book-keeping. The real interest for him was elsewhere. I have absolutely no idea how his mind worked.