Why do people think physics is so hard?

[Chi Meson]

This thread has been raised from the dead four times now.

Six times


and counting?

 

[MHD93]

and counting?

yes yes

 

[stevenb]

I think physics is simple. It can be made complicated with poor explanations, but a good explanation reveals just how simple it is.

Still, modern physics encompasses so much breath now, that intelligence is needed to keep it all in your mind. Also, many years are needed to even learn the basics.

Of course, being a great physicist (or a great anything for that matter) requires being born gifted, being driven by a love of the field and working hard as a result of that.

So, I would submit that physics is easy in principle, but being a physicist is not easy, with the caveat that finding joy in your profession always makes it a whole lot easier.

 

[kaos86]

I think learning physics is hard compared to mathematics because in a physics textbook, a minimum of explanation is usually given to justify an equation. So to understand it really, you have to do the in-btw steps, which are somtimes very complicated, and other times you simply don't have enough information to do the steps and you're just wasting your time.

The best example of this taken from my life is when I tried to understand Optics. There are tons of approximations made btw equations and you have to find them and justify them if you're to understand the subject (imo). I would often spend an entire day studying a single page of the book. Of course, at university level, it is not permissible to take so much time to learn material so I had to stop. As a result, I feel I know nothing more about optics than before I took the class. Well look at that I'm ranting again.

It's ok, I don't the optics topic, too.

 

[Galteeth]

I agree that this is how it should be taught, but I'm afraid that it depends on the teacher in my experience :/

It should also not be taught at 6:45 in the morning.

 

[Pythagorean]

Celebrities are the real geniuses. And car mechanics. And Bernie Madoff (you know he has like a clique in prison now? Mad respect, homie).

http://nymag.com/news/crimelaw/66468/

 

[Ulagatin]

I'm in Year 12 in Australia, and doing both a Pure Mathematics and Physics course (alongside Chem and Comp Sci). I find mathematics in its very raw, pure, abstract form much easier and more beautiful than physics. I love proofs. I also have a deep love of philosophy, in topics such as philosophy of consciousness, religion, art.

Interestingly enough, for a long while I wanted to do theoretical physics as a career, however, I have not been doing very well at all with my physics course this year (physics is full of constants, one of which being my mark, at an average 60% very consistently). Compare this to my marks in mathematics, typically hovering just below 90%. I now want to be a Pure Mathematician.

Physics this year has involved only basic mathematics, but admittedly the concepts are difficult. Much of the difficulty in physics, as I see it, is that rigorous proofs of the mathematics used are not presented (at least in my course). There is typically no axiomatic approach, and even very few actual derivations or philosophical discussion on the meaning of various abstractions used (in formulae, etc). All intuition and formality is lost, such that the only measure of skill in physics at this level is dictated by the person's memorisation of techniques and various formulae, to be 'applied' in certain contexts.

I wonder what Calculus-based physics is like?

I am not great at remembering lists of facts: I have difficulty with history because of this very issue. I think abstract reasoning and generality is not necessarily in synch with a more specific problem-solving approach; I am far better at the former, although I constantly have to employ the latter in computer science. This makes computer science harder for me than mathematics, but there are still many parallels, so I am able to do quite well in it.

I feel at this level that much of Physics is disjoint - perhaps only the impression given to me by my course and teacher. I often find real-world application more difficult than a less applied and far more abstract approach, as is typical in pure mathematics.

I will go off on a tangent, and make a possibly contentious statement: Mathematics in pure form is qualitative, Physics in its raw form is quantitative. Can a duality ever be reached? Is this perhaps the underlying cause for many people being good at one but not the other? There are, of course, many exceptions - look at Ed Witten for example.

Just a few thoughts of mine. I'm not sure whether I wish to do first-year university physics anymore, but I'd be glad to hear of others' experiences. Especially since it would be introductory calculus-based physics. I would guess more seasoned mathematicians would find this easier than non-calculus-based physics?

 

[Cfire]

Back when I wanted to do law, everything was so easy; everything would make sense immediately (even the abstractions). All the Philosophy, English, history, chemistry, biology, and so on that I've done is much easier than physics (although all of the sciences tend to be noticeably harder than the non-sciences). I certainly tend to understand the concepts explained on a basic level in all of my physics classes, but when I sit down to do 8-12 homework problems on a new idea it takes me two hours of fiddling around and solving everything I can solve for until I finally happen upon the correct answer.

My physics professor tells us that physics is hard, but if you practice a lot then it becomes easy. Perhaps the average Physicsforums user is rather smart/hard working. That's not to say that someone who does physics is smarter than someone who does not, just that physics is indeed hard.

It's hard. Seriously. The average person probably would not be able to do it. Math is generally hard too, so people with a strong math background have probably worked hard (whether or not they realize it) in math and can subsequently work hard in physics without it feeling like they're really working hard.

Take a breath and appreciate that you're doing something difficult, and have worked well to achieve your understanding. Honestly, there are so many people who are studying something where it's enough to go to class and skim over your notes before tests.

For those of you who are saying that physics is easy, what is it easy compared to?

 

[G037H3]

because most people can't reason or visualize

 

[Ulagatin]

Cfire, that is a very heartening message. Thank you very much for that! I find for whatever reason that I can work hard in mathematics far more easily than in physics. What I mean by that is this: I can happily sit down and write proofs and do differential equation modelling etc for hours at a time without realising how much time has passed. I'd be struggling to do that for thirty minutes with physics.

Perhaps the rate of immersion in maths for me, call it I_m, is greater than the rate of immersion in physics for me, calling that I_p. (I'm just being crazy! Don't take this symbolism seriously! :P). For some, |I_m - I_p| < epsilon, but it doesn't seem so for me.

I'm just being mad here. But really, I think it makes a point.

I think your suggestion of taking a breath and stepping back from it all is brilliant. Then it puts it all in perspective. :) Again, very heartening, so thank you. I'm sure others are like-minded on this.

 

[anchorage]

People think physics is hard because it IS hard. Although, once you acquire an understanding of any particular theory or aspect of physics (sometimes after considerable effort), it does become easy -- until you go on to something new.

A number of years ago I read an introduction to an article on differential forms by a physicist who said something like, "When I began to study this I said to myself, 'this is too difficult, no one should have to submit themselves to studying this'. Now, after having come to understand and appreciate it, all I can say to you, the reader, is that I hope you don't, like me, come to understand this beautiful theory ten years too late."

Physics is difficult because the Creator has made a physical universe which is 'infinite in its range and deathless in its duration', that is, infinite in its subtlety and in the mathematical relationships which bind its component parts and elements.

 

[anchorage]

I'm in Year 12 in Australia, and doing both a Pure Mathematics and Physics course (alongside Chem and Comp Sci). I find mathematics in its very raw, pure, abstract form much easier and more beautiful than physics. I love proofs. I also have a deep love of philosophy, in topics such as philosophy of consciousness, religion, art.

Interestingly enough, for a long while I wanted to do theoretical physics as a career, however, I have not been doing very well at all with my physics course this year (physics is full of constants, one of which being my mark, at an average 60% very consistently). Compare this to my marks in mathematics, typically hovering just below 90%. I now want to be a Pure Mathematician.

Physics this year has involved only basic mathematics, but admittedly the concepts are difficult. Much of the difficulty in physics, as I see it, is that rigorous proofs of the mathematics used are not presented (at least in my course). There is typically no axiomatic approach, and even very few actual derivations or philosophical discussion on the meaning of various abstractions used (in formulae, etc). All intuition and formality is lost, such that the only measure of skill in physics at this level is dictated by the person's memorisation of techniques and various formulae, to be 'applied' in certain contexts.

I wonder what Calculus-based physics is like?

I am not great at remembering lists of facts: I have difficulty with history because of this very issue. I think abstract reasoning and generality is not necessarily in synch with a more specific problem-solving approach; I am far better at the former, although I constantly have to employ the latter in computer science. This makes computer science harder for me than mathematics, but there are still many parallels, so I am able to do quite well in it.

I feel at this level that much of Physics is disjoint - perhaps only the impression given to me by my course and teacher. I often find real-world application more difficult than a less applied and far more abstract approach, as is typical in pure mathematics.

I will go off on a tangent, and make a possibly contentious statement: Mathematics in pure form is qualitative, Physics in its raw form is quantitative. Can a duality ever be reached? Is this perhaps the underlying cause for many people being good at one but not the other? There are, of course, many exceptions - look at Ed Witten for example.

Just a few thoughts of mine. I'm not sure whether I wish to do first-year university physics anymore, but I'd be glad to hear of others' experiences. Especially since it would be introductory calculus-based physics. I would guess more seasoned mathematicians would find this easier than non-calculus-based physics?

Hang in there. At the high school level, ability in mathematics is more important than ability in physics as an indicator of future performance in physics. My guess is that, if you're good at mathematics, you will find calculus-based physics actually easier than high school physics, because with calculus a lot of things begin to make a lot of sense. And the amount of material you have to memorize drops dramatically.

 

[dnvlgm]

Guys, all of you are talking about basic physics. In reality physics is much more than solving problems in a paper, actually it is far less about that. On the other hand, it is meaningless and borderline demeaning to try to compare it with other fields, you just don't do that. Physics is hard because it is a field that requires a lot of work, a lot of discipline and the ability to do something other than physics most of the time... but really, what field isn't like this? I am a 3rd year PhD student in Accelerator Physics, my wife is an middle school English literature teacher, she works far harder than me and most people I know in physics as far as I can tell. One piece of advice: as soon as you start listening to a conversation of this kind, please stop it. It is pointless.