Great one-liners from PF members

[sysprog]

It's like watching a tennis match and focusing on how the players have tied their shoelaces. Yes, it's important that a player's shoes don't fall off while he/she is running around; but, it hardly adds to an understanding of the game. $-$ @PeroK

 

[jrmichler]

And no-one gets banned on PF. They get liberated from the tyranny of the forum rules.

Sadly, this is all too true.

 

[epenguin]

"I confess that I get tired of HW problems that are trying to trick the students instead of focusing on the key analytical issues."

DaveE in "Find the current through a complicated circuit"

(However I am not saying that that problem is an example of this artificiality.)

 

[epenguin]

That is a different principle introducing real-world type situations, suitable for the more advanced stages IMHO.

 

[ergospherical]

"I confess that I get tired of HW problems that are trying to trick the students instead of focusing on the key analytical issues."

This statement is pretty misguided. The problem in that thread is typical of Olympiad-style papers (viz: circuits with a few little twists or exotic geometries), designed to make the student think instead of chugging through the mindless book-work level analysis.

 

[BvU]

"I confess that I get tired of HW problems that are trying to trick the students instead of focusing on the key analytical issues."

DaveE in "Find the current through a complicated circuit"

(However I am not saying that that problem is an example of this artificiality.)

here's the link. A simple flattened-out redraw of the circuit is all that's required. Not a trick, but simple stereometric insight. Admittedly unrelated to key analytical issues.

$\$

 

[sysprog]

@berkeman, I would interpret "It was not a theory but imagination" to mean something like "it's not something that I think is surely or necessarily very likely true or hold as a theory, but something that I imagine might be true" $-$ I think that the 'appears in a reputable textbook or peer-reviewed journal' criterion that PF embraces is a useful 'guidepost' or 'bright line' idea here.

 

[DaveE]

This statement is pretty misguided. The problem in that thread is typical of Olympiad-style papers (viz: circuits with a few little twists or exotic geometries), designed to make the student think instead of chugging through the mindless book-work level analysis.

The "mindless book-work level analysis" you refer to is in the realm of physics HW assignments or circuit simulators. The real working analog EEs have their hands full with schematics of real world, complex circuits to deal with.

This is the world EEs work in:

Not contrived puzzles with 6 identical resistors in tetrahedrons. It's a math puzzle, maybe a lesson in recognizing symmetry, that is all it's good for. So, if you need to quiz a freshman physics student with a HW puzzle, go for it, but it has virtually no value in the real EE world. This is a great example of why EEs think physicists don't understand circuit analysis. Perhaps it's beneath y'all, IDK.

In my studies at prestigious universities in EE, and then in 30 years of working with circuits, I never, ever, had to deal with anything as contrived as this tetrahedron. Teaching students methods to deal with complexity will pay off, teaching them to find tricks for quick solutions to quizzes is fleeting at best. Either they'll never need it, or it won't work for real problems.

 

[ergospherical]

It's a math puzzle, maybe a lesson in recognizing symmetry, that is all it's good for.

I think many would argue this is quite valuable. Inspect, for example, the following problems. Although you'd probably say they're completely useless for a budding electronic engineer, both provide insight into some key physical principles and problem-solving techniques.

 

[hutchphd]

I think that both @ergospherical and @DaveE are correct. I have designed production electronics and I have occasionally had lovely inspired flashes of insight. They are synergistic.

 

[phinds]

 

[sysprog]

Thanks @phinds, back on track:

Having done countless computing interviews, school prestige is nowhere near the importance many students think. $-$ @bhobba

 

[sysprog]

Please don’t misquote your own source. $-$ @Dale

 

[sysprog]

If you reach down and pull up on your bootstraps (shoelaces), you don't reduce your weight, you just strain your back. $-$ @russ_watters

 

[sysprog]

Let me say it again: never never use physics textbooks for studying math. $-$ @wrobel

 

[PeroK]

Let me guess - you didn't come here to learn, did you? You came here to force upon us all of your misconceptions just to tell us that GR is not correct.

 

[DrGreg]

Until you ... pose a properly defined question, all we can do is to point out that you in essence have asked what to do when the traffic light shows blue.

 

[DrClaude]

It's too advanced for me to say whether it's elementary or not!

 

[sysprog]

 

[sysprog]

Mr. Alertness $\uparrow \uparrow \uparrow$ noticed my 'stealth' quote $-$ I thought I could get by with posting a screenshot without raising much notice $-$

 

[Bystander]

You may have experienced a bit of the PF 'ton of bricks' effect.

 

[Tom.G]

Regarding Power Blackouts.

I'm still not convinced that a billion dollar industry understands the issue better than me. :/

 

[berkeman]

In a discussion about QM Interpretations:

Or to use your metaphor, perhaps it looks, swims and quacks like a duck, but it was not hatched like a duck.

 

[berkeman]

No, because, in the words of Wolfgang Pauli, you are not even wrong.

 

[phinds]

Discovering and teaching are different things.

This was about why we don't learn GR directly from Einstein's papers.

 

[berkeman]

In response to a question from a user about how to derive an equation...

Basically, you have told us where you want to go but not where you are. That makes it tricky to give directions.

 

[pinball1970]

Newish poster opened a thread. 'Nuclear disaster (war)' and was worried that the war in Ukraine could lead to Putin attacking neighbouring countries with nuclear weapons 'What would be the worst effects?'

@berkeman replied. "We all die and only alligators and cockroaches survive, thanks for the uplifting post.
Thread closed have a nice day."

Only the survivors of the 'im really worried about the situation in Ukraine' thread, can appreciate the reply I think.

 

[pinball1970]

A wishy washy existential post regarding the Universe. 'Nothing matters, we are just a spec, the universe will die in a heat death,' kind of a thing.

Phinds replied, 'Yes and your point is?'

OP. "Why does it matter if I tell you whether I have a point or not?"

@russ_watters replied, 'It matters for whether or not the thread has value to PF.
Thread closed thus disproving the thesis.'

 

[Borg]

@berkeman replied. "We all die and only alligators and cockroaches survive, thanks for the uplifting post.
Thread closed have a nice day."

Even threads die in a nuclear war.

 

[PeroK]

Perhaps it doesn't matter that it all doesn't matter in the end. It's still important now.