Recent content by NegativeDept

As far as I know, it just means there are more mandatory upper-level classes because you have to meet the minimum requirements for two degrees instead of one. It's typically somewhat easier with related subjects like math and physics because the introductory courses overlap. My advisor's...

I've never heard of anyone making $200K immediately after getting a statistics PhD. If it happens, I'd bet it's a rare outlier like D H said. There are definitely $100K+ positions for recent statistics PhDs. For PhDs with no industry experience, I think the key to a higher salary is to find...

From personal and anecdotal experience, I'd guess that 10% of academics will think it's cool that you have an outside perspective 20% will feel threatened and try to sabotage you by telling people you're too dumb for academia 30% will think it's irrelevant how you got your degree as long as you...

Is ##t## random? From the description of the problem, I get the impression that it's a deterministic parameter. If I understand correctly, the key part of the problem is this: You know the pdf (probability density function) of each ##r_t## You want to know the pdf of the product of many...

I got a math undergrad and a physics PhD. My advisor double-majored in math/physics as an undergrad, then got a physics PhD, then wrote several math and physics textbooks. So it's definitely possible to mix-and-match. There's often some catch-up work you'll need to do if you major in one and...

It's possible to represent any qubit observable as a quaternion and any pure qubit state as a unit quaternion. Single-qubit QM can be written entirely in terms of quaternions without reference to state vectors, density matrices, or operators. I discovered this by accident working on my...

I don't personally know of anything that extreme, but a lesser version is happening right now. Government cuts started a chain reaction which led to people at the bottom of the pecking order (grad students with no grant money) being forced out of the program or rushed to graduate early.

I think it would be very, very improbable, mostly because: That's the situation right now in the US and Canada. (Maybe there are exceptions in Europe, Japan, or Australia - I don't really know.) I still think it's possible for a skilled person with no PhD to do physics, just not to be a...

Since we're throwing around lots of interpretations of entropy, I can't resist adding my personal favorites as fuel to the fire: E. T. Jaynes argued that "entropy of a system" is an ill-defined concept. Entropy should be defined for probability distributions, not for physical systems. In...

I have no personal experience with this question, and many people on PhysicsForums say the answer is "no." But I know at least 2 people who were hired as engineers immediately after they finished a physics undergraduate degree, so it must not be too improbable. Both were hired by large US...

If you really want to get past pop-sci and heuristic arguments, spend some time learning linear algebra fundamentals. It's essential to know what these words mean: vector space inner product linear combination / superposition linear transformation orthogonal, normal, orthonormal...

The Schrödinger equation* is a linear PDE with a ##\nabla^2## in it: ## \imath \hbar \partial_t \Psi(\mathbf{r},t) = \frac{-\hbar^2}{2m}\nabla^2 \Psi(\mathbf{r},t) + V(\mathbf{r},t) \Psi(\mathbf{r},t) ## So it can be useful in QM to know Green's functions for the Helmholtz equation...

Could there have been a miscommunication or misunderstanding of the problem? If not, then your answer (and Dickfore's) is correct. The teacher's answer is the probability that 3 out of 3 randomly-selected tires are faulty. I'm assuming the failure probability for each tire is independent of...

This is definitely true. Your age is not a problem unless the admissions committee has some unusually irrational prejudices. It might even be an advantage in some ways. Assuming you're planning to study in the United States, the usual problems still apply: student debt, low pay, and uncertain...

I had never heard of them either, and looking them up gave me an excuse to procrastinate an extra few minutes. I think IISC, IITS, NITs are universities, Wipro is a consulting firm, and all are based in India. I'm fairly confident that almost nobody in Europe or North America would recognize...