Recent content by swashtecher

Hi all, I'm a rising sophomore studying applied physics at a top university in the USA, and I've been considering whether or not to pursue graduate school, and beyond that, deciding between a life in academia vs. industry. I'm surrounded by a lot of academics (naturally), but have much less...

Going to be a sophomore this fall: Summer: research internship at physics lab working with a neutrino detector Fall: Differential Equations Introductory Methods of Applied Mathematics Waves Thermodynamics Introduction to Computer Programming

Just a quick question on spacetime intervals in spacetime. Why is the spacetime interval between two events given by Δs^2 = -c^2(Δt^2) + Δx^2 + Δy^2 + Δz^2, rather than c^2(Δt^2) + Δx^2 + Δy^2 + Δz^2 (as if it were the distance between two points in four spatial dimensions)? Or more succinctly...