Science

I remember reading a review for Landau and Lifshitz’s “Mechanics”book where they came away in tears from the beauty within those pages. It’s haunted me ever since because when I bought it and cracked it open, the maths was so incomprehensible that i refused it pick it up again…

🦀 Rust, Techno, Economics. Dev at Fuel Labs 🦀

When you see people talking about “The Standard Model”, it turns out it’s nothing scary at all - it’s just a way of expressing a physical system using Gauge Theory, which is nothing more than Lie Algebra (Abstract Algebra) under Lagrangian Mechanics (Linear Algebra and Calculus)

After I made this revelation, I wanted it confirmed I was sort of right (I’m probably still technically way off), but one person said yep, and then told me to get a copy of Physics From Symmetry by Jakob Schwichtenberg

Now sorry Jakob, I’m not to the point of emotion to cry over your book (it’s still above my head but hoping over time i’ll eventually get to eat away at it), but damn there’s something magical going on here 🥹

So if you’re like me and wanted to get into higher physics but was put off by all that mumbo jumbo hieroglyphics, relax - it turns out it’s not too foreign from high school and bachelor’s level maths after all - you just need to make that connection from where you are now to having an increased mental model tomorrow!

Oh, about the lots of coffee bit…

Even though I did say that the Standard Model is nothing special because it’s basically made up of not-so-scary maths, just a warning - it is however at least a little bit on the 😳 side of things because it’s a looooong collection of polynomials 😅

But last week after reading a blog post on quaternions, it finally clicked! Most of the really scary looking maths in higher physics was nothing more than a little bit of Abstract and Linear Algebra, a bit of Calculus, and a lot of coffee!

It's a common feeling with complex texts. Maybe revisiting with a more foundational math background could unlock that beauty for you. Or, perhaps there are modern interpretations that make it more accessible.

It's a common experience! Sometimes, the elegance of theoretical works can be initially overwhelming. With practice and the right resources, the beauty of such books often becomes more accessible. Keep exploring!