What is Confused: Definition and 1000 Discussions

In medicine, confusion is the quality or state of being bewildered or unclear. The term "acute mental confusion" is often used interchangeably with delirium in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems and the Medical Subject Headings publications to describe the pathology. These refer to the loss of orientation, or the ability to place oneself correctly in the world by time, location and personal identity. Mental confusion is sometimes accompanied by disordered consciousness (the loss of linear thinking) and memory loss (the inability to correctly recall previous events or learn new material). The term is from Latin: confusĭo, -ōnis, from confundere: "to pour together", "to mingle together", "to confuse".

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  1. N

    (signal processing)Time domain vs Frequency domain, totally confused

    Hey guys, I am totally lost in the idea why we have to change function in time domain to frequency domain to ease with our calculations. Let me break my question into serveral smaller ones. 1)What is the physical implication of transferring a signal to frequency domain? (I know that in...
  2. M

    Simple problem, but confused with acceleration of gravity

    Homework Statement A silo is under construction and a large brick is being hoisted up at a constant speed of 3.2m/s. The rope breaks when the brick is at a height of 28m above the ground. a) find the greatest height reached by the brick. Homework Equations i know which equation to...
  3. B

    Kinematics problem mixing up distance and time. I'm so confused.

    Homework Statement You drive on Interstate 10 from San Antonio to Houston, half the time at 67 km/h and the other half at 112 km/h. On the way back you travel half the distance at 67 km/h and the other half at 112 km/h. What is your average speed (a) from San Antonio to Houston, (b) from...
  4. P

    Confused by the fractions in the parenthesis

    Homework Statement Given: see attachment Five additional electrons are placed at the origin. What is the electric field now. Homework Equations Electric field equations of E=q/(4pi*Eo*r^2) The Attempt at a Solution I am wondering if the electric field would just be 50% higher...
  5. I

    Advice for a confused math/engineering guy.

    Hi everyone. I'm having a bit of a crisis here and I'd appreciate any help. I'm 24 years old, I have a bachelor's degree in math, specializing in computer science and logic, and right now I'm doing a graduate diploma in engineering science at the University of Auckland. My grades in math...
  6. K

    Why Did My Cubic Equation Plot as a Curve Instead of a Line?

    Okay, I was doing some questions concerning linear law when I came across a question that asked me to convert a cubic equation into a 'linear equation' so that I can draw it on a graph. Cubic Equation: p(x+y-q) = qx3 Then, I convert the above equation into: y/x2 = (q/p)x However...
  7. J

    Confused on (neutron) cross-sections

    Hello, I am looking at scattering cross sections for neutrons. From basic scattering theory and the partial wave expansion I have understood that the reaction and scattering cross sections are dependant of each other. There can be scattering without reactions but only 1:1 the other way around...
  8. C

    A little confused about how Relativity works?

    hello ppl Imagine that you are on a spaceship flying very close to the speed of light and we know that time slows down significantly at this speed relative to that on earth. now say every day for the persons on the spaceship is a whole year for a person on earth. So for a person on the...
  9. O

    Confused about Quantum Mechanics and Causality

    Hi all, The following is probably a very stupid question, but could anybody please tell me what they think? It has been bugging me for quite a while. I'm a bit confused about the probabilistic interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. I can't see how it necessarily follows from the experiments...
  10. P

    Understanding Einstein's Theory of Relativity

    I'm not really a physics genius or professor so forgive my lack of knowledge. I was thinking about Einstein's theory of relativity earlier,then it just popped into my head doesn't that contradict The Law of Conservation of Charge?Ex:111grams of hydrogen = 10,000,000,000,000,000 Joules.but in...
  11. M

    Double Integral Confusion: How Do I Handle Boundaries with U-Substitution?

    i am confused about the double integral ʃʃ cos(x+2y)dA, where R = [0,pi]x[0,pi/2] i realize for the integral that i must do u-substitution. when i do this, however, do i also have to change the boundary conditions as in a single integral? i got -8 without changing the boundary conditions...
  12. M

    Why Does Time Differ Between Astronauts and Earth in Relativity Theory?

    Confused about relativity? I have a question regarding the following explanation I have been given as below: If an astronaut were to travel at or near light speed to another star, there would be a difference in the time elapsed on Earth versues the time elapsed as perceived by the astronaut...
  13. D

    Calculating Energy Use of Spaceship for Harry & Burt Trip

    I have learned that the kinetic energy of a moving object is equal to its mass multiplied by it's velocity squared, divided by 2. If I takes off in my 2 million kg spaceship from rest to 1 million metres/second, I have calculated from this formula that I will need 1 million, million, million...
  14. A

    How Does the Adidas Jabulani Football's Design Affect Air Drag?

    Drag On A Sphere... Confused...? I've been looking at the Adidas Jabulani football from the recent soccer world cup and came across this issue. This ball has many grooves and ridges on it's surface, and also has less seams (as it is constructed from fewer panels), and these seams are shallower...
  15. S

    Solving a Static Problem with Conflicting Results

    Static Problem...i am confused Homework Statement The Problem says " A rod is 5 ft long and its weight is 60 lb. one end of the rod is fastened to a vertical wall by a clip. other end is bound by a rop which is attached to point on the vertical wall situated at a 12 ft height from the clip...
  16. B

    Confused About Traveling at the Speed of Light?

    I have always been confused about this. On here people constantly talk about traveling in a spaceship that goes .5c, or.9999c etc. But how can this be, no matter how fast one travels light will always travel at c compared to your reference frame. Does this not mean that no matter how fast you...
  17. T

    Are Electromagnetic Fields Considered Spinors in Geometric Algebra?

    Hi, I'm trying to teach myself a bit about spinors, mainly from reading about geometric algebra. There is something that I can't figure out though. According to GA, spinors are elements of the even graded subalgebra, so scalars, bivectors and so on. But the electromagnetic field is a bivector...
  18. D

    Very confused about surface tension

    See link: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com:8100/legacy/college/cutnell/0471713988/ste/ste.pdf. When defining surface tension, the article makes reference to a C-shaped apparatus. Why is γ = F/2l and not F/l? It says something about there being two surfaces, but it seems to me that because...
  19. M

    Voltage & Charge: Exploring the Basics for Students

    Hi I'm confused about voltage and it would seem every student before me has also been confused abotu voltage if you read all the internet forums :) From I = V/R if you increase the voltage you increase the current, so you get a greater amount of charge passing a point at a particular...
  20. S

    So I've been confused about transformers lately. In searching for some

    So I've been confused about transformers lately. In searching for some information regarding the basic transformer, I came across this: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/magnetic/transf.html#c1. While this page was informative, I am still left confused in regards to one point in...
  21. M

    Confused about an inverse (which then leads on to a calculus problem)

    Hi I'm doing some work on finding the derivative of an inverse function and getting a bit lost, probably because I am confusing myself with the inverses. So i think i need to clear up the inverse part before I move on to the calculus bit. You have the function f(x) = 1/3x3 - x2 + 5x -11...
  22. A

    Confused with Nodal Analysis and Voltage Sources! HELP!

    The question might be simple for you guys but the problem is that it is not for ME ! I have a circuit and I have to determine the node voltages by Nodal Analysis method. And the one which I learned was in cases when we had a current source, I could simply write the equations using KCL...
  23. S

    Confused to the max Re-aranging equations.

    Okay so today i sat a AS level physics paper and after finishing the exam i looked threw the equation booklet and decided to do some manipulation and i came up with this and was wondering what you guys think of it. I am confused! :) E=hc/λ AND λ=h/mv subbing in gives E=hcmv/h which is E=cmv...
  24. S

    Confused about Newton's third law again?(Doc Al and others help)

    Hello everyone, Ok I'm no longer worried about why Newton's third law is occurring. Doc Al advised me in the last thread to look at some action reaction pairs instead, and I think that is what I needed to do. Ok I'm having difficulty understanding Newton's third law when two objects are...
  25. J

    Gear ratio question. ugh i'm confused.

    okay. i recently had a forum asking about gear ratio that has me so confused on the concept of ratio that it hurts. if you have a 40 spline gear and a 20spine gear. and ur power input is on the 40 spline gear. doesn't that mean the 20 spline gear will rotate twice every time the 40 spline...
  26. M

    Confused about nuclear binding energy

    hi there, now I've been googling around for ages now trying to find this answer but i cant i have read time and time again that a nucleus always has less mass than the sum of the masses of the nucleons in it. This is put down to the binding energy, this is where i get confused surely if it...
  27. L

    Confused on why magnetic hard drive bits are written as wave stuctures.

    I understand the general aspects of how a hard disk drives works. I have gone deeper and have learned about the various types of magnetoresistance, both AMR and GMR. I understand the fundamentals of how these systems work compared to older units. But people keep telling me that the data...
  28. O

    Confused by Quartile Calculation? Get Help Here!

    Normally this is a very easy task, but i just can't get this one right. the data set is 14 14 14 15 15 15 15 15 15 16 16 16 16 16 16 17 17 17 18 25 And i get Q1 and Q2 right at 15 and 16, but i keep getting the upper quartile as 17, when it is meant to be 16.5. Can...
  29. P

    Confused about battery's specific power and energy

    Hello there, I am so confused about the term battery specific energy (in Wh/kg) and specific power (in W/kg) Actually, I know what it means by power and energy, of course P = E/t But looking at the text, which quotes like "Ni-Cd batteries have high specific energy (than Ld-acid) but...
  30. S

    Was just looking at binomial theorem, i am confused [help]

    i was told the binomial theorem is as follows: (1-x)^n = 1-nx+ (n(n-1)/2!)x^2 - (n(n-2)/2!)x^3 ... not sure if this is right could some one clear this doubt for me any help is appreciated was told this in a physics class
  31. C

    How Do You Calculate Average Speed If You're Given Distance and Time in Minutes?

    Hey, This is kinda a thick question but never mind. A car travels 30KM and that for 30mins. What is the average speed of the car?Formula is Average speed= Distance Travelled DIVIDED BY Time taken. But its not 30 DIVIDED by 30 is it? Is it 30 DIVIDED by 0.5 as 30mins is half of an hour? And how...
  32. I

    Confused on Solving a Series Computation: Help Needed!

    Ok it says I am to computer using a series accurate to within 0.001. I'm really not sure where to start. Do I integrate this first by parts? Or am I thinking about this too much? Could someone point me in the right direction please! Help would be much appreciated!
  33. O

    Wannabe theorist is totally confused

    Hello, I am currently on a gap year after having finished my A-levels here in the UK. I hold offers from Imperial College and Manchester for their "Physics with Theoretical Physics" courses. I have the option, if I go to Manchester, to switch to the "Mathematics and Physics" course, which is...
  34. Y

    Confused on partial differentiation.

    In the process of deriving .\nabla^2u(x,y). in polar coordinates I am confuse how to work through the steps. The first step from the book is to find \frac{\partial u}{\partial x} Standard partial differentiation is at follow: \frac{\partial u}{\partial x} = \frac{\partial u}{\partial r}...
  35. D

    Confused on this defective matrix problem

    Make matrix defective if possible and identify the values of alpha. \begin{bmatrix} 3\alpha & 1 & 0\\ 0 & \alpha & 0\\ 0 & 0 & \alpha \end{bmatrix} Skipping the boring stuff we obtain (\alpha-\lambda)^2(3\alpha-\lambda)=0 as the characteristic polynomial. \lambda_1=\lambda_2=\alpha and...
  36. L

    Confused About Right Hand Rule: Understanding Magnetic Fields

    Homework Statement I'm so confused about how to use the right hand rule..there are so many different sources telling me different things...like i need to use the RHR to like find the direction of the magnetic field using the current (and nothing else)..like i followed my book, and they said to...
  37. S

    Confused About Light? Get Answers Here!

    Confused about light! Hello everyone, I'm confused about light. I know when a photon with certain matching energy comes, it excites the electrons to a higher orbital, and releases a photon when it comes back. 1. What happens to the orginal photon that lost energy? 2. I then read about...
  38. M

    Confused by variational principle

    My notes give the variational principle for a geodesic in GR: c\tau_{AB} = c\int_A^B d\tau = c\int_A^B \frac{d\tau}{dp}dp = \int_A^B Ldp and then apply the Euler-Lagrange equations. By choosing p to be an "affine parameter" where \frac{d^2 p}{d\tau^2} the Euler-Lagrange equations are...
  39. J

    Force fields, vectors, and work (mostly just confused by notation)

    Homework Statement Consider a force field F = c(iy - jx). From the force field calculate the work required to move a particle from the origin to the point 2i + 4j without acceleration along the two different paths: From the origin to 2i then to 2i + 4j From the origin to 4j then to 2i + 4j...
  40. T

    Confused about time dilain length contraction

    hi, we all know when we derive the time dialtion formula we choose a vertical light clock, and basically since the light take a longer zig-zag path to the stationary observer, the time is dilated. That's ok but when deriving length contraction, firstly we accept time dilation for horizontal...
  41. J

    What Are the Correct Units for Density in the Equation P = Patm + ϱgh?

    Homework Statement I'm dealing with densities of liquids. When using the formula P = Patm + ϱgh, where ϱ is the density of the liquid, what should the units of ϱ be? Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution I have P in kPa, so just looking at the units gives: kPa = kPa +...
  42. J

    What Does the Right Hand Side of the Equation Refer To in OEMB Section 3?

    In the section shown here http://sites.google.com/site/juliansrealativity/_/rsrc/1271044270997/home/time-from-stationary.bmp" is the right hand side of the equation intended to refer to light in the moving frame, or to light in the stationary frame ?
  43. D

    Completely confused about differential equation notation

    Homework Statement I just finished solving about 10 different DEs, but this one has me totally confused. It says: (R)dQ/dt + (Q/C) = 0, with initial condition Q(0) = Q_0? Most of the problems I've done thus far have looked like: y' + (2/t)y = (cost)/(t^2), with initial cond y(pi) = 0 and t>0...
  44. N

    Which Axis is Correct for Plotting t² and Length in Physics Graphs?

    I have to plot the period t² vs the length but now i am confused which goes on the x-axis and which goes to the y axis, i was wondering if someone could help me out with this issue
  45. M

    I am confused about the orbital velocity

    Hello, We know that to calculate the orbital velocity we use the relation : Vo=2* pi* r /time of one cycle but if we want to calculate the orbital velocity when a body moves from the point a to the point b on a circular path we use the relation : Vo = The line segment ab / time...
  46. M

    Confused about transformers formula derivation

    Hi, I've been a bit confused with how the equation Vp/Vs = Np/Ns came about. From reading a physics textbook, I understand that the voltages came from the emfs ε (primary) and ε (secondary). The primary voltage through the primary coils causes a change in magnetic flux which induces an emf...
  47. X

    Confused: Doping and Depletion Zone

    Background: Math & Physics undergrad Reason for asking: So I was trying to understand semiconductor diodes and realized it all hinged on the PN junction which in turn is worthy of attention because of the effect created by the depletion zone. As I continued on studying up on this I began...
  48. X

    Confused about physics of freefalling (through sky)

    Homework Statement Basically, i was told to describe the physics involved with a person who just happens to be falling out the sky...However, I'm a bit overwhelmed as to where i should start off Human mass: 54kg Earth's gravity: 9.8m/s^2 Air resistance:?perhaps negligible or would that...
  49. K

    Confused on amperes in primary & secondary circuits

    Homework Statement A transformer has 500 turns in its primary coil and 4000 turns in its secondary. (a) What will be the voltage in the secondary if the primary voltage is 110? (b) If 5 amperes flow through the secondary circuit of the transformer, what will the current in the primary be...
  50. A

    How Can a Rocket Travel Faster Than the Speed of Light?

    Rocket flies from Earth to a star, 4.5 light years away, at 8.66C (the actual numbers are irrelavent, so they might be wrong). When the rocket gets up to speed, instantly, the distance between Earth and the star contracts to about 2.3 light years. So the journey only takes about 3 years...
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