Math/Physics Problem Solving: Intelectual Orgasm

[student85]

Has any of you done a math/physics problem, got the answer after struggling, and by the end felt an "intelectual orgasm". If you know what I mean lol.

 

[russ_watters]

Could we call it a "eureka moment" instead...?

Yes.

 

[Pyrrhus]

Hahahahah, i prefer also the Archimedes Victory words :rofl:

 

[student85]

Eureka moment! That's a good one lol

 

[Danger]

I like Student's definition, except for the spelling.

 

[Gokul43201]

I think there's a difference between the intellectual orgasm defined in the OP and what is generally called a Eureka moment. While the latter can be a bolt out of the blue, the former typically requires a sustained effort that culminates in a cerebral climax.

 

[Mattara]

I've experienced both.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

Has any of you done a math/physics problem, got the answer after struggling, and by the end felt an "intelectual orgasm". If you know what I mean lol.

I wouldn't call it an orgasm, the maths I'm doing at the moment isn't advanced enough to take up more than an hour or so or maybe a few days if I'm truly floundering, but there have definitely been the odd eureka moment where I've finally figured out what I was doing wrong and got some sort of reasonable realistic answer.

I think though, with this subject - by which I mean physics and it's related maths - unless, or perhaps even if you are a genius there are more Eureka moments than in many others, and that's no disparragement to other subjects, it's merely due to the nature of the subject and it's complexity. As a friend told me though at the end of the day maths is all very simple when you break it down to it's elemental components, I think I'll have to take his word for it for now

 

[GeoMike]

No. I usually feel stupid after I get the answer (for not picking up on it sooner -- especially since it seems so simple once it's fully worked).

I have been known to feign intellectual satisfaction though. Usually just to help build up my math partner's self-esteem (but I'm always the one doing all the work it seems).
-GeoMike-

 

[student85]

Can some of you share the topic of the problem on which you experienced this??

 

[Danger]

I have those moments occassionally. Far more since joining PF, since my attention is now directed to the issues of people other than just myself. This is an environment that engenders them.

 

[physics girl phd]

My example -- A mildly nasty E&M geometrical problem calculating the power of something with current flowing from applied voltage across the objects... only to get in the end, P=IV.

Oh, but I am an E&M girl... my "tantric moment" of physics involved a long and late-night grad school E&M test, and later the professor was so stunned by my performance that I got multiple exclamation points by my scores.

 

[Danger]

That entire last paragraph brings a different scenario to mind than you probably intended.

 

[Andre]

I was riding on my bike from work to home when thinking heavily about climate things in June 2003, especially about the apparent extreme greenhouse effect on the Planet Venus. Somehow, the Milankovitch cycles mixed in the thoughts, which cause long term climate variation. But on Venus those cycles don't work because of the lack of spinning. Then a little sauce of energe preservation thinking, where a lot of energy of Earth is in the spinning, instead, the energy of Venus is in it's entropy.

Then the million volt idea struck me without any warning. I could just recover the bike from tipping over. The result is in an old thread here. Probably unimportant because nobody wants a complete solution for al the phenomenons from a single cause. You only get trashed around when trying to discuss. Incidentely, all the available evidence supports it. Perhaps that the Venus express will provide more proof.

But it's an unreal feeling for sure.

 

[Gokul43201]

That entire last paragraph brings a different scenario to mind than you probably intended.

Danger, put your glasses on. That's "E & M", not 'S & M'.

 

[Danger]

Oops...

 

[physics girl phd]

Yikes -- E&M vs. S&M... brings to mind that one of my girlfriends, who went to undergrad at [an unnamed high-male-female-ratio institution known for a technical curriculum], said: "It was always trouble when you couldn't tell the difference between what a guy was working on for a lab apparatus, and what he might be wanting to use in the bedroom!"

After that thought -- I'm glad E&M does more for me. :!)

 

[Danger]

I'm glad E&M does more for me. :!)

Well, it should afford you the opportunity to design bigger and better toys...