I'm 16 and need/want a life in Physics.

[FeDeX_LaTeX]

Hello,

I too am 16, and I'd like to pursue a career in either mathematics or physics. I agree that your mathematics need to improve. When I was 13-14, I 'stepped it up' a little bit; it was a period where I learned an incredible about using the internet and books. I recall asking on a maths forum at 13 how to calculate a derivative, and, of the 20 or so replies I received, none were helpful, a few were condescending, and many were downright rude. I had told them my age, and they told me things like "make sure you have a mastery of pre-calculus, memorise all those trig identities, build up a knowledge of logarithms and study a programming language before you start calculus, wait a few years before you bother trying, learn how to do other maths first". Then I found a website (edugratis) with simple videos that introduced calculus step by step; limits, differentiation, integration, related rate problems, cusps, etc. and by 15 I was really making a lot of progress in calculus. In fact, I'd say keep using YouTube. But stay away from the really hard stuff (things where you understand 0% of the stuff they're talking about). It's not very productive.

I think a good start for you would be problem-solving. The NRICH website has many problems for 11-19 year olds, with problems ranging from counting, to calculus and group theory (don't be fooled by the pretty colours, some of those problems are really tough).

For me, I was 15 when I first realized that I liked physics, but the mathematics of the physics was what made me appreciate it the most. Learn to love mathematics. During this period (13-15) I discovered things like fractional calculus and the Bernoulli numbers, and it was the problem solving that led me to learn about concepts like groups, difference equations and so forth. Right now, I'm working on Fourier series. Put the time in, but love it while you're doing it too.

It's good that you're a member here; spend a lot of time here reading topics that interest you (or random ones) related to physics or maths. Do this on other forums too, like mathisfunforum.com. You will pick up some of the mathematics, trust me. A few years ago I learned about double summations and Maclaurin series just by reading people talk about them. I know you can get a lot of things off of YouTube, but you need to do a bit more than that to learn, in my experience. For instance, I thought I was great at integrating by u-substitution, but then I encountered a really tough exercise someone had made where you could only use u-substitution to get the answer. As someone said in this thread; solving problems will make you better. The more you do them, the more you'll start to think like a mathematician (or a physicist, I suppose).

If your algebra or trig (not sure how the US system teaches it) isn't quite up to scratch, ask people here, or on other forums (like the one I mentioned), or look it up on YouTube. You can even PM me if you like. I know what it's like to want to get better at something but not know where to start. You're 16 -- you've realized, more or less, what you want to do. This is your coming of age, so to speak. Like me, I presume you're reading about a lot of advanced topics in physics but without the right mathematical background. I am the same. I have read about topics like string theory and quantum mechanics, and would love to understand them more, and I know that with every day the passes, I'm getting closer and closer to understanding the mathematics of it.

Good luck. And please don't become one of those people that love physics but think maths is a waste of time (like my old physics teacher). :P

However, although it might contradict this post a bit, you do not have to learn everything in a step-by-step fashion. You don't necessarily have to become a master of everything covered in trig to become good at calculus. But it helps a lot. Bit of trivia - I didn't know how to do long division until I was 14. I had devised my own method that was much slower until I heard about this new method that apparently people 8 years younger than me could do. Isn't that embarrassing?

Although, don't get into the habit of learning about doing things like differentiation without knowing what you're doing. It's easy to just understand that the derivative of x^n is nx^(n-1), but it's much nicer if you understand what you've just done.

Don't worry if you don't understand the terminology that well yet -- a couple of years ago if someone mentioned 'complex analysis' to me, I wouldn't be certain what they were talking about. But I already knew a lot about it.

 

[Bourbaki1123]

That's like grade 3 level... I don't think you'll go very far unless you put in a lot of hard work, fast.

I assume he can do simple "Find x for x*3 = 12", he hasn't expressed that this is an issue. He seems to be having trouble putting it into context and making the logical connection between the basic algebra and the physical ideas, and since he doesn't know what SI units are, he should definitely brush up on high school science, but that isn't difficult to do, I'm sure he could get through all of basic high school math and science with the resources on Khan academy; certainly more effectively than by reading a text on his own (so I disagree with Angry Citizen, though the advice would be good [I know, I've given it before ] if Khan academy weren't around to give you masterful video lectures with tons of examples and feed you exercises like a video game).

Anyway; the sort of commentary you've provided is immensely efficient, in that it's at once both useless and discouraging, but I don't see why you would even bother making it.

 

[Cuauhtemoc]

I think any basic algebra book would be pretty good for him, anything.
And not just to become a scientist.

 

[brocks]

I'm sorry you are being treated so roughly here, but the short answer to your question is, you have a very long road ahead of you if you have not been serious about math until now.

Here is a website that gives you some idea of the path ahead, and has links to a lot of online resources:

http://www.staff.science.uu.nl/~hooft101/theorist.html

 

[An Open Mind]

If you want a chance of going into physics this is what you need to do. You have to for now stop watching popular science videos and stop thinking about quantum mechanics and dark holes. You need to build up your math skills if you want any chance. Physics isn't talking about pretty pictures of dark holes and nebula's using words. The language of physics is math and if you can't do math, no amount of words is going to mean anything. So what I suggest is that you first learn all of your basic algebra, solving equations, inequalities ect, then learn your basic trig functions, sin, cos, tan, sec, cos, cot and there inverses. Also learn there graphs and the trig identities basically study trig very well so that you are comfortable with it. Once you did that find a calc 1 syllabus online from a reputable university and self study that stuff till you start your 1st year in college as a physics major. If you can do that then you will have the tools you need to do physics.

Thanks very much mate. I remember in grade 8 learning sin, cos, tan ect. And it just mean't nothing to me because I hated school but now I'm older I regret that greatly and wish I had tryed. It's going to be hard for me to learn from reading because I've always been a listner and someone helping me. I don't care what anyway says I don't think it's to late for me to learn these types of math because I am very serious about this I don't want to have lived for no reason I want a reason for being and to of a had an impact on the world. I know I'm probley setting my sights to high..

 

[An Open Mind]

I'm sorry you are being treated so roughly here, but the short answer to your question is, you have a very long road ahead of you if you have not been serious about math until now.

Here is a website that gives you some idea of the path ahead, and has links to a lot of online resources:

http://www.staff.science.uu.nl/~hooft101/theorist.html

I've just read a few paragraphs of that website you sent me and it seems pretty usefull :), I use microsoft word to remember things as I previously stated in my first thread. This is also to everyone at my "school" which is barely a school they kids there are just horrible and it's inpossible to learn most classes I ask my teacher if I can go to the libray to do my work. The kids walk out whenever they want swear constantly and the teachers do nothing. I want to just quit going to school so I can stay home and do study math...Is this possible?

 

[FeDeX_LaTeX]

Maths can become your friend, when there is nothing else that makes sense in the world. When I'm alone, or feeling down, I know that I can still do mathematics. I learned that having a mind, coupled with pen and paper, can produce amazing things. I spent a week away from home with a bunch of strangers and people I didn't like in some cabin area in the Winter. Mathematics became my companion. It can be yours, too.

 

[simplicity123]

Thanks very much mate. I remember in grade 8 learning sin, cos, tan ect. And it just mean't nothing to me because I hated school but now I'm older I regret that greatly and wish I had tryed. It's going to be hard for me to learn from reading because I've always been a listner and someone helping me. I don't care what anyway says I don't think it's to late for me to learn these types of math because I am very serious about this I don't want to have lived for no reason I want a reason for being and to of a had an impact on the world. I know I'm probley setting my sights to high..

I suppose you are in the US.

But, I really only started at 18. Now I'm third year of uni studying Mathematics at a top uni(Manchester university).

Anyway, if you could get yourself the book Algebra II For Dummies(http://www.general-files.com/go/42520936200) or just download that and read it on your computer.

16 is young. You will be fine. Maths is about volume of practice not reading. You need to do lots of exercises. You aren't really reading a book, you are reading so you can do the exercises in the book. So basically just read so you can do the exercises. Like you can't do a problem that requires the power rule without knowing what it is, so you would read until you can use the power rule then go straight onto the exercises. Just rinse and repeat.

 

[An Open Mind]

Hello,

I too am 16, and I'd like to pursue a career in either mathematics or physics. I agree that your mathematics need to improve. When I was 13-14, I 'stepped it up' a little bit; it was a period where I learned an incredible about using the internet and books. I recall asking on a maths forum at 13 how to calculate a derivative, and, of the 20 or so replies I received, none were helpful, a few were condescending, and many were downright rude. I had told them my age, and they told me things like "make sure you have a mastery of pre-calculus, memorise all those trig identities, build up a knowledge of logarithms and study a programming language before you start calculus, wait a few years before you bother trying, learn how to do other maths first". Then I found a website (edugratis) with simple videos that introduced calculus step by step; limits, differentiation, integration, related rate problems, cusps, etc. and by 15 I was really making a lot of progress in calculus. In fact, I'd say keep using YouTube. But stay away from the really hard stuff (things where you understand 0% of the stuff they're talking about). It's not very productive.

I'll be completely honest with everyone..I literally know my times tables and that's it..I was trying to teach my self algebra for half an hour and I had no idea what was going on in the equation. I'm not going to school today because I can't handle the stupiedness of it just sitting in class while people swear and are always on facebook. I'm going to try and get a grip on the "easy"math first. Trig/algebra.

 

[simplicity123]

I'm sorry you are being treated so roughly here, but the short answer to your question is, you have a very long road ahead of you if you have not been serious about math until now.

Well, it's not that long. I started Maths at 18 and now 22. In 2 years time will be going for PhD and probably could do all the fancy Maths that is supposedly hard that theoretical physicist do.

2 years of college + 4 years of uni. About 6 years, which isn't long. That's even assuming OP has social life. If he got rid of his social life and only studied I think he could do it in three years.

Also, the link only applies to cranks. Some people are crazy and could never do science because they have stupid theories. Don't know why everyone is assuming OP is a crank.

 

[simplicity123]

I'll be completely honest with everyone..I literally know my times tables and that's it..I was trying to teach my self algebra for half an hour and I had no idea what was going on in the equation. I'm not going to school today because I can't handle the stupiedness of it just sitting in class while people swear and are always on facebook. I'm going to try and get a grip on the "easy"math first. Trig/algebra.

I'm in third year studying Maths from good uni.

I don't know my time tables(I did three years ago through). Literally I would struggle with basic subtraction now, I can't subtract now. Maths isn't arithmetic. Plus I forgot all my calculus so Maths isn't even that.

Also, go to school. You want to go to uni so you have to do it. If you are sitting in class bring a sheet of problems you can do and then do it.

 

[An Open Mind]

Well, it's not that long. I started Maths at 18 and now 22. In 2 years time will be going for PhD and probably could do all the fancy Maths that is supposedly hard that theoretical physicist do.

2 years of college + 4 years of uni. About 6 years, which isn't long. That's even assuming OP has social life. If he got rid of his social life and only studied I think he could do it in three years.

Also, the link only applies to cranks. Some people are crazy and could never do science because they have stupid theories. Don't know why everyone is assuming OP is a crank.

This is so sad what I'm about to say, but since I moved 3 schools and have lost contact with all my friends, I go to TAFE now and all the people there and mindless zombies smoking swearing rude people. I sit in class waiting till 4:30 then go home and play some xbox..I don't have a social life anymore I have my few friends I go over there houses once a month..I can't waste anymore of my life I just sound pethetic I'm getting off here now and attempting some trig.

 

[simplicity123]

This is so sad what I'm about to say, but since I moved 3 schools and have lost contact with all my friends, I go to TAFE now and all the people there and mindless zombies smoking swearing rude people. I sit in class waiting till 4:30 then go home and play some xbox..I don't have a social life anymore I have my few friends I go over there houses once a month..I can't waste anymore of my life I just sound pethetic I'm getting off here now and attempting some trig.

Go to school. School isn't socializing with friends, if you have no friends at school that would be optimal. As that would mean you can focus on work.

What level of education are you? Also, don't do trig. Learn algebra first.

P.S. I only have friends at uni. Only then about 5 people at uni are my friends.

 

[An Open Mind]

Go to school. School isn't socializing with friends, if you have no friends at school that would be optimal. As that would mean you can focus on work.

What level of education are you? Also, don't do trig. Learn algebra first.

P.S. I only have friends at uni. Only then about 5 people at uni are my friends.

I have a man that I look up to my "mentor" and I just had a chat with him on the phone and he said I would be best starting with algebra, and I shouldn't beat my self up and get annoyed because I don't understand it, because know one has explained it to you yet.
I'm in grade 11, live in Australia - Queesland.

 

[An Open Mind]

How does 3 squared ( with the little 2 up the top ) = 9?

I just learned about the order of operations!

Parenthesis
Exponents
Multiplication
Division
Addition
Subtraction

I'm proberly doing the easyest sums ever but It's algebra and I'm understanding it!
http://www.algebasics.com/3way1.html

 

[micromass]

How does 3 squared ( with the little 2 up the top ) = 9?

3 times 3 is 9...

 

[elfmotat]

How does 3 squared ( with the little 2 up the top ) = 9?

3¹ = 3
3² = 3*3 = 9
3³ = 3*3*3 = 27
3⁴ = 3*3*3*3 = 81

and so on.

It works the same way with any number:

2² = 2*2 = 4
2³ = 2*2*2 = 8

etc.

There are a couple khan academy videos on it:

http://www.khanacademy.org/video/level-1-exponents?playlist=Pre-algebra

 

[simplicity123]

How does 3 squared ( with the little 2 up the top ) = 9?

I just learned about the order of operations!

Parenthesis
Exponents
Multiplication
Division
Addition
Subtraction

Where are you learning?

Seriously, download the book I linked you to and read that. It starts with fractions and then if you finish it you will know how to do matrices.

When I was 18 I spent a couple of month working through it and when I finished my algebra was better than the teacher who was teaching me the Maths to pass college so I can go on to uni. Read the book I linked you to on page 4.

 

[xdrgnh]

Open mind, what math class are you currently enrolled in now or will be enrolled in?

 

[lisab]

How does 3 squared ( with the little 2 up the top ) = 9?

I just learned about the order of operations!

Parenthesis
Exponents
Multiplication
Division
Addition
Subtraction

Omg guys I'm proberly doing the easyest sums ever but It's algebra and I'm understanding it!
http://www.algebasics.com/3way1.html

Great feeling, isn't it ?

 

[stonecoldgen]

Id say be ahead of all the other 16 year olds

go to AP calculus, physics, chemistry and statistics

read ahead the lectures, so that when you get to class you already knowbut in general just be ahead of everyone, learn lots of calculus and physics on your own, and this may sound dumb, but playing chess (as well as being in a physics course) improove your reasoning
and about the youtube essay, I am not sure about that...but it might be interesting

and it is great you are learning a lot of that stuff
EDIT: OMFG, i read the thread, seriously, you sound more like a sci-fi writer than a theoritcal physicist, but if do want to be in science, learn the trig and the alg fast, you might even end up doing a little bit of introductory calculus

 

[romsofia]

Straight up, WHAT! I'll try and understand it though, so the x is the digit you are trying to find? Wait omg there's 2 x's wait then..what does the 2 mean uh I'm going to be here for days.

Ok Hm..the little 2 is the thing that is inportant I'm guessing..wait urgh could you please explain it a little more, like what those digits mean?

X is a variable which means it can be ANY number. The {^2} means you multiply the number by itself EX: {y=x^{2}+x} and if we plug say, 2 into it we get {y=2^{2}+2} which would be equal to 6 (since 2² is equal to 4).

My teacher said today if in 10 minutes you've made no progress on a problem, then go ask for help!

Good luck.

 

[WannabeNewton]

Go to school. School isn't socializing with friends, if you have no friends at school that would be optimal. As that would mean you can focus on work.

What the hell? He's 16, having friends and socializing is an important part of school. Having no friends and focusing completely on self -studying will only have detrimental effects in the long run.

 

[Intervenient]

An Open Mind,

Please do not take my post as an offense to you. I would strongly consider setting back your goals for the moment. Not forever, as I firmly believe that everyone has the capacity to gain and understand anything, as long as it's presented in a clear and concise way. If you're truly determined to study theoretical physics, I will be your biggest fan and most avid supporter.

The absolute best thing for you to do is catch up. Not just in your math, but your reading and writing skills as well, if what you've posted on this forum is an accurate representation of them in the real world. NO ONE can take away your education, whether it be math, science or reading. I cannot stress how important it is to enhance your most basic skills, as they always, ALWAYS lead to a better quality of life and better job prospects.

Your desire to self-study already puts you ahead of so many people. The best thing you can do is continue to watch the videos on Khan Academy if your public school education is not providing you with the results you wish. Build up your algebra and trig, as they are the key to understanding higher math, and thus higher physics.

Math really is a beautiful thing. I hope you see the beauty of it as well :)

 

[simplicity123]

An Open Mind,

Please do not take my post as an offense to you. I would strongly consider setting back your goals for the moment. Not forever, as I firmly believe that everyone has the capacity to gain and understand anything, as long as it's presented in a clear and concise way. If you're truly determined to study theoretical physics, I will be your biggest fan and most avid supporter.

The absolute best thing for you to do is catch up. Not just in your math, but your reading and writing skills as well, if what you've posted on this forum is an accurate representation of them in the real world. NO ONE can take away your education, whether it be math, science or reading. I cannot stress how important it is to enhance your most basic skills, as they always, ALWAYS lead to a better quality of life and better job prospects.

My writing skills is worse than his and I'm studying Maths at uni now. There has been dyslexics Physicists, Einstein being the most famous. His Maths skills aren't even that bad. The biggest hurdle to get around Maths is anxiety.

 

[Bourbaki1123]

I'm in third year studying Maths from good uni.

I don't know my time tables(I did three years ago through). Literally I would struggle with basic subtraction now, I can't subtract now. Maths isn't arithmetic. Plus I forgot all my calculus so Maths isn't even that.

Also, go to school. You want to go to uni so you have to do it. If you are sitting in class bring a sheet of problems you can do and then do it.

What are you talking about? You're a math major, at a university, who can't subtract. What's with this sudden rash of people with less than ten posts making nonsensical claims.

 

[Intervenient]

My writing skills is worse than his and I'm studying Maths at uni now. There has been dyslexics Physicists, Einstein being the most famous. His Maths skills aren't even that bad. The biggest hurdle to get around Maths is anxiety.

No, your writing is definitely better than his. And there's no butts about it, if he's having trouble with variables, and just learned PEMDAS, he is far behind on a track to be a physicist. Not saying anxiety isn't something to do with it though.

 

[An Open Mind]

Open mind, what math class are you currently enrolled in now or will be enrolled in?

Prevocational Math. Basically the teacher sits there. Everyone talks and walks out whenever they want. I used to be in a good math class in grade 8 but since then I never wanted to go to school and I hated math, For some odd reason I love learning and I love learning math the most. Sooner or later I will get out of this hellish school and into a better class.

 

[simplicity123]

What are you talking about? You're a math major, at a university, who can't subtract. What's with this sudden rash of people with less than ten posts making nonsensical claims.

Well, your arithmetic ability goes down if you don't practice it. Again, I have none because I don't need it. Funny you said that when Grothendieck didn't know 57 is not a prime, and he was the best mathematician ever.

No, your writing is definitely better than his. And there's no butts about it, if he's having trouble with variables, and just learned PEMDAS, he is far behind on a track to be a physicist. Not saying anxiety isn't something to do with it though.

It won't take him that long to learn it. PEMDAS isn't that simple hence the stupid trolling with
48÷2(9+3) = 2 or 288?

 

[An Open Mind]

An Open Mind,

Please do not take my post as an offense to you. I would strongly consider setting back your goals for the moment. Not forever, as I firmly believe that everyone has the capacity to gain and understand anything, as long as it's presented in a clear and concise way. If you're truly determined to study theoretical physics, I will be your biggest fan and most avid supporter.

The absolute best thing for you to do is catch up. Not just in your math, but your reading and writing skills as well, if what you've posted on this forum is an accurate representation of them in the real world. NO ONE can take away your education, whether it be math, science or reading. I cannot stress how important it is to enhance your most basic skills, as they always, ALWAYS lead to a better quality of life and better job prospects.

Your desire to self-study already puts you ahead of so many people. The best thing you can do is continue to watch the videos on Khan Academy if your public school education is not providing you with the results you wish. Build up your algebra and trig, as they are the key to understanding higher math, and thus higher physics.

Math really is a beautiful thing. I hope you see the beauty of it as well :)

I can write neat when I'm trying to, and my reading is fine but I don't do a lot of it lol :p. However I have stuttered for for ages..I've tryed everything speaking slow, taking deep breaths and thinking about the word before I say it, but that's not really what you were saying :l Nevermind. Thanks I hope you come back to my thread so we can talk some more :].

 

[An Open Mind]

3 times 3 is 9...

Ohhhhh! So the small number is how many times you double the bigger number ahh I get it lol I've never knew that.

 

[An Open Mind]

3¹ = 3
3² = 3*3 = 9
3³ = 3*3*3 = 27
3⁴ = 3*3*3*3 = 81

and so on.

It works the same way with any number:

2² = 2*2 = 4
2³ = 2*2*2 = 8

etc.

There are a couple khan academy videos on it:

http://www.khanacademy.org/video/level-1-exponents?playlist=Pre-algebra

Ohhh I get it thanks man :D this should be easy now.

 

[An Open Mind]

If you want a chance of going into physics this is what you need to do. You have to for now stop watching popular science videos and stop thinking about quantum mechanics and dark holes. You need to build up your math skills if you want any chance. Physics isn't talking about pretty pictures of dark holes and nebula's using words. The language of physics is math and if you can't do math, no amount of words is going to mean anything. So what I suggest is that you first learn all of your basic algebra, solving equations, inequalities ect, then learn your basic trig functions, sin, cos, tan, sec, cos, cot and there inverses. Also learn there graphs and the trig identities basically study trig very well so that you are comfortable with it. Once you did that find a calc 1 syllabus online from a reputable university and self study that stuff till you start your 1st year in college as a physics major. If you can do that then you will have the tools you need to do physics.

No words to describe my thankfullness for your help :)

 

[wukunlin]

OP sounds a bit like me when i was around that age ( ~15ish ) except I was the other way round, good with numbers but hitting walls everytime i have to use words :)

a word of advice (assuming no one has mention something along the lines of this already):
try to stay away from specializing yourself too early on, you may be interested in theoretical physics at this stage but do try to keep up other areas of science. These days I tend to think back hoping I didn't spend so much time on the details of a specific subject. It would probably be more useful to obtain a broad range of knowledge and find links between them. I have lost count on the amount of times I appreciate the fact that I took some biology classes at high school even though I hated it. Bits and pieces of general knowledge is also useful if you suddenly changed your mind one day.

good luck

 

[enigma]

Open Mind,

You have stated that you are getting nothing out of your current curriculum. Here is a lesson I wish I had learned earlier in life: if you want things to be different for you, you must fight for it yourself. MUST. The administrators at your school have put you into the classes you are in because you, self-admittedly, didn't care about school for the last two to three years. Now you want to get onto a new (and better) path. If you don't tell anyone, they won't know.

I don't know what your homelife is like, but if you can, start there. Ask your parent or guardian to help you get moved into a better class. Next, talk to your guidance counselor at school. Tell him or her what you've told us. Write down your desires if you're nervous and bring the notes along.

Ask to set up a meeting with the guidance counselor, your current teacher maybe, and a teacher of a higher level class. The goal of this meeting will be to set discrete, measurable, attainable goals that will enable everyone to be confident you will be able to succeed if you move up.

Make sure everyone knows that you are aware that you are behind, but also make clear that you WANT to put in the time to right your course.

Look at Penguino's 'suicide and hungry' post in GD. Teachers want to teach kids who want to learn. That's why they went into the field in the first place! If you show the maturity to admit you're behind and couple it with the drive to fix it, you WILL get more help than you could possibly expect.

My last suggestion which applies to your outlook and how it applies to the situation you're in and how to fix it. When you're asking how to get righted, stop badmouthing the class and the teacher. You're in the "bad" class because YOU didn't care, not because the school or the teachers are bad. The teacher probably has given up trying to teach kids who don't care. He is just a person who likely doesn't like the situation he's in any more than you do. If you treat them like you're worthy of respect by treating them with respect, you may even find an unexpected ally. Put yourself in his shoes: if you're stuck teaching brats who don't give a damn and unexpectedly one of them actually comes to ask for help, would YOU want to help if you could? I'd bet you'd be the first person in years who he has taught who showed any interest at all. He'll go home and tell his wife he had a great day because he may have someone he can actually HELP!

 

[2018]

Math is best learned sequentially. Learning random little scraps of algebra or calculus is useless. You need to start with basic prealgebra.

 

[MissSilvy]

First: No youtube, no popular science, no black holes. Your understanding isn't even close to sufficient to begin to seriously ponder these concepts and at this point it would just clutter up your mind with falsehoods since you have no filter to distinguish lunacy from actual facts.

Second: Read more textbooks, do more math.

Finally: For god's sake, don't start coming up with your own theories on singularities or black holes or string theory. To start making worthwhile guesses in such esotheric theoretical fields, you need the solidest foundation in modern physics that you can get. Not F=ma; Lagrangians, Maxwell's laws, quantum mechanics, special relativity, general relativity, high energy, condensed matter, and a bunch of other little fields that will take years to learn.


Note that when someone says 'know special relativity', they don't mean watch a Youtube video or read some book. If you can't do and understand the math and problems that go with a concept, you don't know it. Period.

Can we have a sticky and a policy for these types of threads? There are at LEAST five new ones a week and its getting tedious to read the exact same answers to the exact same situation multiple times per thread.

 

[lisab]

First: No youtube, no popular science, no black holes. Your understanding isn't even close to sufficient to begin to seriously ponder these concepts and at this point it would just clutter up your mind with falsehoods since you have no filter to distinguish lunacy from actual facts.

Second: Read more textbooks, do more math.

Finally: For god's sake, don't start coming up with your own theories on singularities or black holes or string theory. To start making worthwhile guesses in such esotheric theoretical fields, you need the solidest foundation in modern physics that you can get. Not F=ma; Lagrangians, Maxwell's laws, quantum mechanics, special relativity, general relativity, high energy, condensed matter, and a bunch of other little fields that will take years to learn.


Note that when someone says 'know special relativity', they don't mean watch a Youtube video or read some book. If you can't do and understand the math and problems that go with a concept, you don't know it. Period.

Can we have a sticky and a policy for these types of threads? There are at LEAST five new ones a week and its getting tedious to read the exact same answers to the exact same situation multiple times per thread.

Coincidentally, we were just discussing that in GD -

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=523484

 

[Bourbaki1123]

Well, your arithmetic ability goes down if you don't practice it.

Correct.

Again, I have none because I don't need it.

Ok, what area of math are you interested in? I'd say that at the very least we did some sort of shuffling of indices that required me to know the mechanics of subtraction and addition in my mathematical logic and algebra courses.

Funny you said that when Grothendieck didn't know 57 is not a prime, and he was the best mathematician ever.

Funny you think that Grothendeick would have any trouble whatsoever solving "55-22 = ?", even more funny that you think it's appropriate to compare yourself to Grothendieck; unless you have his powers of abstraction, not being able to think concretely is not an asset. I flatly do not believe that it is possible that you could not solve "55-22 =?" and are a math major, no matter if you play with structural proof theory or with toposes or what have you.

 

[Bourbaki1123]

First: No youtube, no popular science, no black holes. Your understanding isn't even close to sufficient to begin to seriously ponder these concepts and at this point it would just clutter up your mind with falsehoods since you have no filter to distinguish lunacy from actual facts.

I'm going to continue to reiterate that this should say "no youtube -except Khan academy videos-" the rest is spot on.

Second: Read more textbooks, do more math.

Definitely not a bad idea.

Finally: For god's sake, don't start coming up with your own theories on singularities or black holes or string theory. To start making worthwhile guesses in such esotheric theoretical fields, you need the solidest foundation in modern physics that you can get. Not F=ma; Lagrangians, Maxwell's laws, quantum mechanics, special relativity, general relativity, high energy, condensed matter, and a bunch of other little fields that will take years to learn.

This is essential, while it's good to think about these things, you -will- become a crackpot if you start to take your own ideas seriously without a -lot- of formal background.As she said, you do not know physics if you don't fully understand the mathematics behind it. The ideas have too many subtleties to understand without embedding in precise mathematical language, you will start making incorrect leaps of intuition if you start reasoning about these things without a solid basis for doing so.

 

[FeDeX_LaTeX]

I agree, I think Khan Academy is the most appropriate here; PatrickJMT has some great stuff too, but doesn't start at as low a level as Khan Academy does. I think Dr Chris Tisdell's videos are great; he has one of the best YouTube series on Fourier series I've ever seen. Once you get to the calculus level, you should check out his videos (that may be in a years time, possibly a little more, depending on how fast you work).

 

[twofish-quant]

Also as far as what you should watch - Mythbusters and makezine

The other thing is that you shouldn't try to theorize about black holes since you don't have a black hole handy. What you *should* theorize about is stuff that you can do actual experiments on.

For example, come up with a theory about bowling. Take a bowling ball, toss it against the pins, and then come up with a physics theory that explains how to get a higher score in bowling. Once you start analyzing a bowling ball, you can easily spend a year or two working out the physics of bowling balls, and there is a decent chance that you'll come up with something that no one else has ever figured out. Also, this is the type of stuff that you can enter into science fairs and Intel STS, which will help you with college applications.

If you really get into it, then think about what types of stuff you can attach to a bowling ball to do physics experiments.

If you don't like bowling, then do it for something that you do like to do...

 

[An Open Mind]

I read all these comments and they all make perfect sense your all right I shouldn't clutter my mind with crazy ideas since I don't know any math behind it. I made a thread yestorday called "My theory on black holes/Big Bang", I got a warning and it was locked. I had thought of an idea about a month ago and I was just trying to express what my mind thinks about and what everyone on the forum would think of it. I don't believe any theories I think of I just find it neat if it were true. No more rediculous things like that I'm concentrating on my algebra now.

 

[An Open Mind]

http://www.algebasics.com/3way1.html I use this site to learn the basic first steps of algebra and I'm understanding it, I learn't all of this is grade 8 but never payed any attention because I hated school. If anyone else has a better site please tell me.

Everyone who posts on my thread are my mentors, my guidence.

 

[An Open Mind]

Also as far as what you should watch - Mythbusters and makezine

The other thing is that you shouldn't try to theorize about black holes since you don't have a black hole handy. What you *should* theorize about is stuff that you can do actual experiments on.

For example, come up with a theory about bowling. Take a bowling ball, toss it against the pins, and then come up with a physics theory that explains how to get a higher score in bowling. Once you start analyzing a bowling ball, you can easily spend a year or two working out the physics of bowling balls, and there is a decent chance that you'll come up with something that no one else has ever figured out. Also, this is the type of stuff that you can enter into science fairs and Intel STS, which will help you with college applications.

If you really get into it, then think about what types of stuff you can attach to a bowling ball to do physics experiments.

If you don't like bowling, then do it for something that you do like to do...

That's a fantasic idea, but I like using my brain more then my hands and my homelife isn't really the place I can experiment in unfortunately.

 

[MathematicalPhysicist]

I read the title of the OP, and the first thing that popped into my head:" I want to get a life... in physics"
There's life in physics?

"Getting a life" and "physics" rarely mingle.
D-:

 

[WannabeNewton]

I read the title of the OP, and the first thing that popped into my head:" I want to get a life... in physics"
There's life in physics?

"Getting a life" and "physics" rarely mingle.
D-:

Unless you're Barney Stinson and manage to use physics to your advantage

 

[DaveC426913]

That's a fantasic idea, but I like using my brain more then my hands and my homelife isn't really the place I can experiment in unfortunately.

You'll be using your brain on things in real life.

And I'll bet your parents will bend over backwards to make you a space to study it. (OK, maybe start off with something smaller than a bowling alley).

 

[An Open Mind]

I read the title of the OP, and the first thing that popped into my head:" I want to get a life... in physics"
There's life in physics?

"Getting a life" and "physics" rarely mingle.
D-:

Question mark.

 

[An Open Mind]

You'll be using your brain on things in real life.

And I'll bet your parents will bend over backwards to make you a space to study it. (OK, maybe start off with something smaller than a bowling alley).

What could I experiment with?