What Drives the Mind of a Math Genius?

[JWHooper]

I want to see the real answer to this one.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I voted no. I'm not good at physics.

 

[jostpuur]

I would be more interested in the opposite question. Are physics geniuses also math geniuses?

 

[redargon]

isn't physics just applied mathematics?

 

[arildno]

I would be more interested in the opposite question. Are physics geniuses also math geniuses?

No...

 

[neu]

I would be more interested in the opposite question. Are physics geniuses also math geniuses?

No, a Physics genius can still function in the real world.

 

[Crosson]

No, but the converse holds true.

 

[marlon]

i voted yes because everybody else voted no

doesn't that make me even more the genius that i already am ?

marlon

 

[Oberst Villa]

I would be more interested in the opposite question. Are physics geniuses also math geniuses?

Hm, theoretical physicists... maybe. Experimental physicists - no. Best example is Michael Faraday - an absolute genius of experimental physics, but pretty clueless about math.

 

[marlon]

Hm, theoretical physicists... maybe. Experimental physicists - no. Best example is Michael Faraday - an absolute genius of experimental physics, but pretty clueless about math.

How do you know that he was clueless about math ?

marlon

 

[Mk]

How do you know that he was clueless about math ?

He met him!

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

How do you know that he was clueless about math?

Clueless might be a bit harsh, but according to wikipedia, true.

Although Faraday received little formal education and knew little of higher mathematics, such as calculus, he was one of the most influential scientists in history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Faraday"

 

[OmCheeto]

I'm a genius, but am terrible in both math and physics.
There should have been a "none of the above" option...

 

[marlon]

Clueless might be a bit harsh, but according to wikipedia, true.

According to Wikipedia ? Pff, that means exactly nothing.

Again i ask, how do we know that Faraday sucked at math ? How is this fact established ?

ciao
marlon

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Again i ask, how do we know that Faraday sucked at math ? How is this fact established?

I'm sorry, I do not deal in established facts. Here is an excerpt from the biography Faraday As A Discoverer, by John Tyndall.

It is impossible to say how a certain amount
of mathematical training would have affected his work. We cannot
say what its influence would have been upon that force of
inspiration that urged him on; whether it would have daunted him,
and prevented him from driving his adits into places where no theory
pointed to a lode. If so, then we may rejoice that this strong
delver at the mine of natural knowledge was left free to wield his
mattock in his own way. It must be admitted, that Faraday's purely
speculative writings often lack that precision which the
mathematical habit of thought confers. Still across them flash
frequent gleams of prescient wisdom which will excite admiration
throughout all time; while the facts, relations, principles, and
laws which his experiments have established are sure to form the
body of grand theories yet to come.

http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext98/fdayd10.txt"

Here's another.

Michael Faraday did not know enough mathematics to translate his ideas into theory, and succumbed to nervous exhaustion in 1839 in the attempt. He stayed away from electromagnetism for five years, returning with an experiment that showed that light is affected by magnetism--heralding the theory of light as waves in an electromagnetic field. But this idea was scorned. His ideas were not accepted until the 1870s, when they were put into the language of equations by James Clerk Maxwell.

http://www.321books.co.uk/biography/michael-faraday.htm"

What have you got?

 

[Oberst Villa]

Hi Jimmysnyder, thanks a lot for fighting this battle for me, so that I continue to watch TV without having to concentrate too much on fighting for my reputation !

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Hi Jimmysnyder, thanks a lot for fighting this battle for me, so that I continue to watch TV without having to concentrate too much on fighting for my reputation !

I'm watching "Days of Our Lives". I did all that during the commercials.

 

[Oberst Villa]

I do not know how to qoute this, but look at post #15 by Jimmysnyder, there is proof that John Tyndall is alive and posting here in this forum ! O-M-G !

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I do not know how to qoute this, but look at post #15 by Jimmysnyder, there is proof that John Tyndall is alive and posting here in this forum ! O-M-G !

Nah, he posted on some other forum and then died. Another reason to stick with this one.

 

[Oberst Villa]

I'm watching "Days of Our Lives". I did all that during the commercials.

Good idea ! But I'm watching a movie about Stauffenberg's attempt to kill Hitler ! They tried to blow him up 10 minutes ago, but did not succeed, now the conspirators are arrested by those loyal to Hitler, just now they shot a Stauffenberg - try to top THIS with "Days of Our Lives"

(and there are no commercials ! )

 

[Oberst Villa]

OK, guess I spammed enough for one thread (anyway, all are dead now, so I finally can concentrate on what I write and can write something intelligent - well, at least I can try )

Marlon, I knew about Faraday's mathematical cluelessness because I always considered the combination of Faradays experiments and the subsequent analysis by Maxwell as the classical example of an optimum combination between pure experimental and pure theoretical work. So I have read a bit about the works of both (as far as it is related to the history of electromagnetism)

I think the phrase "absolute experimental genius" should make it clear that I do not look down at him in any way, I just wanted to provide a convincing counterexample against the theory "physical genius implies math genius". Now you can not know this, but but I'm an engineer (EE, Fachhochule - kind of Polytechnic), so without Faraday ,well I would not be a engineer at all. And while nobody called ME a genius in any field, I would describe physical intuition as my relative strength and all forms of mathematical rigorosity as a weakness of mine. So I feel myself more attracted to Faraday than to any math freak who shifts symbols around on paper during his whole life.

 

[Oberst Villa]

(still don't know how to qoute this, so I just copied it from Jimmysnyder's post #15):

"Michael Faraday did not know enough mathematics to translate his ideas into theory, and succumbed to nervous exhaustion in 1839 in the attempt. He stayed away from electromagnetism for five years, returning with an experiment that showed that light is affected by magnetism--heralding the theory of light as waves in an electromagnetic field. But this idea was scorned. His ideas were not accepted until the 1870s, when they were put into the language of equations by James Clerk Maxwell."


VERY interesting stuff, Jimmysnyder. I did not remember this at all, I somehow thought he happily did his experiments until Maxwell came along - didn't know about his nervous exhaustion, poor guy. But at least a happy ending !

 

[marlon]

I'm sorry, I do not deal in established facts. Here is an excerpt from the biography Faraday As A Discoverer, by John Tyndall.



http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext98/fdayd10.txt"

Here's another.


http://www.321books.co.uk/biography/michael-faraday.htm"

What have you got?

I got nothing, but neither do you.

this is all speculation of some people say that ...blablabla...

This doesn't qualify as proof man, i am sorry

marlon