Is Math the Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Physics?

[ajx]

I've never taken a Physics class in my life, so I apologize if this sound stupid.

I always see math equations. Why? What does math have to do with physics?

Also, what's the difference between general and classic physics?

 

[nonequilibrium]

Hello.

I understand you haven't figured something out about math, something a lot of people tend to miss when encountering math: math is not just a heap of meaningless symbols, but it's the language of logic. Whenever you use a form of reasoning in your every day life, the thought process behind it can be stripped down to its essentials, and those essentials are logical chains, and logical chains are what mathematics is made up of.

Now its connection with science shouldn't be hard to understand: for sciences, like physics, we need to think about things, reason about them, and so math comes in.

You can do physics without math, but then it stays very vague, a bit like philosophy. Math is there to crystalize the ideas and -again- to strip them down to their essentials; then we can make our theories consistent, and the resulting equations let us make predictions (by calculations) that should follow logically if our physical model is correct.

 

[HallsofIvy]

Anything that requires precise, logical thinking requires mathematics. The more precise, the more mathematics.

"Classical Physics" typically means physics without relativity or quantum theory. "General physics" is not a standard term but probably includes an introduction to many different kinds of physics.

 

[Naty1]

You always see math because it's a slick way to describe the world around you...If you have a stack of one dollar bills, the total dollar value is the number (sum) of the bills. If you travel some distance from a to b, and would like to get there say for dinner at a specific time, you need to allow d/v = t time for your trip ...it's convenient. And so you can not only describe things that have happened, but also describe things that can happen...make specific predictions.

try the first few paragraphs here for some insights into "physics":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physics

 

[Redbelly98]

Math provides an extremely efficient way of expressing the behavior of the physical world.

 

[irradiance]

"mathematics is the most fundamental medium at which man can somehow comprehend what is happening around him. it's the language at which the physical world and man can understand. but just be careful not to be caught by these numbers, as what my former mentor said 'sometimes the sophistication of mathematics hides the ignorance of physics.' though numbers are needed but the analysis and comprehension of such equations for example is the most essential of all."

-R. Laride

 

[PRodQuanta]

This is a great question, and one that I believe deserves more thought than is often given!

However, this question is almost impossible to answer. If you have ever been introduced to physics, you have probably been exposed to all sorts of equations and formula which, of course, are all math. This should be alerting to you! The sheer ability to make sense of a physical phenomenon in mathematical form is unbelievable. Moreover, once you go "further down the rabbit hole," you find that more and more physics really just becomes more and more math.

I am a PhD student in engineering who graduated with a BA in physics. I always wanted to think that math and physics were two different entities. However, I found that they are not. They are more closely related than you could believe. Actually, it is more than that; there is something about math that pervades physics. I know you need math to explain physics, but the symmetry between the two is very beautiful.

This is what I understand physicists mean when they say that something is "elegant."

-PR