Votre Coeur: Why I'm Glad that I did Physics Instead of Maths

Why I'm Glad that I did Physics Instead of Maths

Posted by Mastermind at 9:23 pm

There's a long history (I believe so) that Physics people couldn't mix with Mathematics people and Mathematics people couldn't stand Physics people because of the way we do mathematics. Honestly speaking, I can't stand Maths people who bring the rigour they have for Mathematics into reality because Mathematics is just not meant for the real world. (Mathematics here refer to pure Mathematics, the one with axioms and theorems, not the Mathematics in counting and multiplying, that's applied Maths)

Einstein once said this

As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.

My reflections for today, as a necessary but not sufficient condition to pass, is I've learnt to appreciate these Mathematics jokes more than ever.

At Least one side is black
A Mathematician, an engineer and a physicist were traveling through Scotland when they saw a black sheep through the window of the train.

"Aha", says the engineer, "I see that Scottish sheep are black."

"Hmm", says the physician, "You mean that some Scottish sheep are black".

"No", says the mathematician, "All we know is that there is at least one sheep in Scotland, and that at least one side of that one sheep is black!"

As far as all practical purposes
A mathematician and a physicist agree to a psychological experiment. The (hungry) mathematician is put in a chair in a large empty room and his favorite meal, perfectly prepared, is placed at the other end of the room.

The psychologist explains, "You are to remain in your chair. Every minute, I will move your chair to a position halfway between its current location and the meal."

The mathematician looks at the psychologist in disgust. "What? I'm not going to go through this. You know I'll never reach the food!" And he gets up and storms out.

The psychologist ushers the physicist in. He explains the situation, and the physicist's eyes light up and he starts drooling. The psychologist is a bit confused. "Don't you realize that you'll never reach the food?" The physicist smiles and replies: "Of course! But I'll get close enough for all practical purposes!"

For those non-Physics people, we cannot reduce the distance between any two objects to absolute zero. Heisenberg just don't allow it to happen and Dirac would cause chaos for the Maths people with his Delta function when you try.

There's more in life than living in all the minute details, that is to enjoy it while it lasts, now that's practical!

Update (29/3/06): I wish I could do this to those Maths people who are not meant for the real world and yet think so highly of themselves and are so condescending.