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Physicists avoid highly mathematical work despite being trained in advanced mathematics, new research suggests. The study, published in the New Journal of Physics, shows that physicists pay less attention to theories that are crammed with mathematical details. This suggests there are real and widespread barriers to communicating mathematical work, and that this is not because of poor training in mathematical skills, or because there is a social stigma about doing well in mathematics.
Dr Tim Fawcett and Dr Andrew Higginson, from the University of Exeter, found, using statistical analysis of the number of citations to 2000 articles in a leading physics journal, that articles are less likely to be referenced by other physicists if they have lots of mathematical equations on each page. [...] Dr Higginson said: "We have already showed that biologists are put off by equations but we were surprised by these findings, as physicists are generally skilled in mathematics.
"This is an important issue because it shows there could be a disconnection between mathematical theory and experimental work. This presents a potentially enormous barrier to all kinds of scientific progress."
http://phys.org/news/2016-11-physicists-mathematics.html
[Abstract]: Statistical Analysis of the Effect of Equations on Citations
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday November 14 2016, @09:59AM
In calculus II here students are taught notation abuse, separating the dx from dy in dx/dy to solve basic differential equations.
Differential forms [wikipedia.org] (what is represented by such things as "dx" and "dy") rocked my world. It isn't just notation abuse, but turns out when applied correctly to be a better way to do calculus over multidimensional spaces (especially when the space is squirrelly, like it's curved, crossed over itself due to some weird embedding in another space, or something). What's interesting is that the basic symbols of modern differential forms were developed by Leibniz back in the 17th century, while the full math itself came around at the beginning of the 20th century.