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Even Physicists Are 'Afraid' of Mathematics

posted by janrinok on Sunday November 13 2016, @04:49PM   Printer-friendly
from the you-can-count-on-it dept.

AnonTechie writes:

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

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 13 2016, @07:59PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 13 2016, @07:59PM (#426319)

    For me, the problem is that very abstract maths is contrary to the reductionist approach that has been very successful in modern physics. Even the hardest theories, like general relativity and quantum field theory, only have a small dose of tensor algebra as the hardest thing.

    If a theory is highly reliant on very abstract mathematics, it often means the science is flawed. If you can't present something in a reasonably simple way, you are probably wrong.

    ps: I am a professional physicist

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  • (Score: 2) by dingus on Sunday November 13 2016, @09:58PM

    by dingus (5224) on Sunday November 13 2016, @09:58PM (#426360)

    On the flipside, if you present things too simply, you're also probably wrong.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 14 2016, @05:35AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 14 2016, @05:35AM (#426443)
    Quantum field theory actually makes very heavy use of group theory, which was long considered a highly abstract branch of algebra that could have no direct applications outside of pure mathematics. Until someone realised that algebraic groups were the best way to describe symmetries, including the symmetries that appear in quantum theory.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 14 2016, @01:20PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 14 2016, @01:20PM (#426511)

      Quantum field theory actually makes very heavy use of group theory,

      And then we had String Theory ....