Is studying math harder than studying physics?

[Aeronautic Freek]

What do you think is study math harder then physics,I mean on university highiest level?

 

[kuruman]

If you have a talent for either one, neither should be harder than the other to study.

 

[Aeronautic Freek]

If you have a talent for either one, neither should be harder than the other to study.

I was allways excellent in math in high school,but I find physics harder because I didnt know how to apply "physics rules" when solving tasks ,even this task has ussualy very simple math operation inside it...

example with static task:
to calculate equlibrium of some object you need math which 10year child knows,but if you don't know how to set correct "static rules" on these task you will never solve task...

So I find most people have physics harder to solve..
Do you agree with my example..

 

[AndreasC]

This is a highly subjective question. If you find physics harder, then it will probably be harder for you, but who knows! I don't think there is a way to settle the question, different people have different skillsets.

 

[fresh_42]

Mathematics and physics are closely related and specialists in one of them have normally good knowledge about the other one. However, I think the two are different in a major point: It is all about coordinates in physics, and mathematicians hate coordinates.

This is of course exaggerated and not always true. There are parts of mathematics which do require a similar way of thinking, and parts of physics which deal with principles and laws rather than frames. But at its core it is true. Physics is descriptive and in order to measure and describe something you need coordinates. Mathematics has of course to provide the techniques to deal with different frames, but its not central, and I have met many mathematicians who were proud to be bad at calculations. E.g. if you have a strict upper triangular matrix, then this matrix is nilpotent: the longest diagonal vanishes with every multiplication. This can easily be seen by calculation. A mathematician, on the other side, might explain this phenomenon with a nilpotent ideal of a ring. So if you see the coordinates of that matrix, then you're closer to the thinking of a physicist, if you see the ideals, then you're thinking is closer to that of a mathematician.