[sdiy] SDIY MATH GOALS--need real help!

[KA4HJH]

>Hey all,
>
>First, I need to address "the rant", partly in agreement partly not, (with
>all due respect Terry :) ). I have a graduate degree in physics and you
>really can't do physics without advanced math. While the basic "ideas" in
>physics can be well explained in simple words and images, Newton invented
>the calculus (Leibniz would argue who invented it) because he had to have it
>to describe the real world. Physics without the calculus is like a beach
>without water. In turn, math is the language of nature. My professor in
>quantum dynamics announced that the Schrödinger wave equation had an
>infinite number of solutions, but that there were only a few physically
>interesting ones. He then said, "we'll study those and leave all the others
>to the mathematicians..." :)

I agree completely. The only physics I took was Physics I in high school
(there was no Physics II), which was all levers & pulleys, acceleration,
etc. The basic stuff, all very easy mathematically. At some later point I
discovered something that the slope of a line actually explained. Oh, so
that's what you use it for! I can still see the curve in my mind but I
can't remember now what it was about (probably audio). That was when the
higher math lights came on dimly for the first time. That was after I ran
screaming from the halls of academia.

Sorry for any confusion. Back to reading about orders of infinity. I have a
good book on that one.

-- 

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"