33: ARE PHYSICS EQUATIONS HARD?

For many years, man has been in search for meaning as to how the universe came about itself. 

Such pursuit led to the postulation of the big bang, which, of course, gave us all a scientific explanation of how the universe was once a large matter which exploded and became what it is today.

The big bang is just one of the answers to many unexplained phenomena. Thus, the need to dip our brains into the vast ocean of the unknown is there as ever before. That, if done intuitively-cum-scientifically will, hopefully, lead to newer discoveries and a better understanding of the universe itself.

Truth be told, one can't help but to imagine the explanations of occurrences like how the earth orbits around the sun, why the sky is blue and what makes large objects like ships not to sink in water.

Questions like these are countless and never-ending because man, due to his innate desire to have control over his environment will continue to look for ways to find befitting answers to puzzling questions (except if, like me, you believe in the existence of a divine power).

This never-ending search for answers as to how the universe came about itself and how it operates is the core objective of Physics. Jim Al-Khalili in his book The World According to Physics described it as “a search for explanantions”.

As such, Physicists, just like miners, try to dig deep till they find convincing scientific answers to explain various astonishing questions and occurrences the universe poses to the inquiring mind.

One might wonder what a field that is said to explain how the universe operates is actually doing with a lot of equations that seem so disconnected to what its core objective is. Apparently, this is why I did connect the dots when Galileo said “The book of nature is written in mathematical language”.

This points out that mathematics is embedded in physics. 

That's to say nature fosters a relationship between the two fields in such a way that both aid in unveiling and at the same time explaining many understood and also yet-to-be understood occurrences in the universe.

In the midst of all this, what scares most people out is the level of physics-cum-mathematically interwoven expressions, called abstractions or equations that goes on in the whole process.

WHAT BRINGS ABOUT EQUATIONS?

According to Jim Al-Khalil, “physics progresses via the continual interplay between theory and experiment.”  

Such interplay, if hypothetically and eventually experimentally proven, leads to a paradigm shift in our understanding of the cosmos. 

In the grand scheme of events, the results obtained from all these are carefully analysed so as to find its significance or possible applications in different areas. 

This, however, gives rise to abstractions. An abstraction is equally an equation. And it does nothing but condense theoretical explanations into mathematical expressions that can then be used calculcatively to solve other problems. 

Simply put, it serves as a building block of answering other nature's numerous questions. In the book How to Bake Pie, Eugenia Cheng noted that, “abstract mathematics might not be directly applicable to real life, but rather applicable to something else which is applicable to real life, or via an even longer chain of applications,...”

Clearly, this happens to be the reason many people find equations, not only physics equations, hard. The level of abstraction that goes into it usually confuses most people. Subsequently, leading to what I term as physics phobia. That is, the fear of physics.

Since equations (or abstractions) can go from simple to complex, there's need to find a possible way that one can understand even the most complicated of such equations.

HOW CAN ONE UNDERSTAND EQUATIONS?

Maths is about understanding processes and not just eating end results - Eugenia Cheng

To every expression you see, be it the famous E=MC², Newton's laws of motion, and whatnot, there's a theoretical framework that builds up that equation. 

In order to understand equations, one must go back to the roots of that equation. The roots are the basics. Just as a plant cannot grow without its roots, that's how equations are. They simply don't come out of nowhere. Thus, the chunk of the work is to start deconstructing the equation before you into bits and pieces. This process is known as learning by first principles. 

It entails deconstructing something you don't understand from its complex form down to it's distinct components and then building it all up to its complex form again. This can be achieved by bringing together the most basic components which makes up the equation in an order that you will be able to make sense out of it one step as a time.

As a fourth year undergraduate physics student, this is how I've been able to understand equations instead of just cramming without really understanding. Nonetheless, this doesn't signify that I've understood all the equations I've been exposed to. 

The point is that through this means I've been able to make a reasonable sense out of some of the abstract equations, concepts and ideas I've come across.

To say that physics equations and other abstractions in the fields of science are simple and easy will be a blatant lie. 

As highlighted by Scott Young in his book Ultralearning, “Tricky equations, abstract concepts, and difficult proofs are all a normal part of one of the most prestigious educations in math and science in the world.” 

This, however, doesn't mean they aren't understandable. Besides, our fellow humans came up with it. And if they are able to observe, understand and come up with answers to many challenging questions the universe poses to us, then we should be able to grasp the meaning of all they left to us.

All we need to understand is that it'll require a lot of effort, practice, discipline and some techniques (which I'll share with you as we continue to delve into this amazing world of Physics).

I don't have all the answers but this, I believe, is a beginner's step towards finding a way in which one can make sense of equations that are confusing.

Hopefully, after piercing through, understanding, and trying to synthesize the basic underlying concepts behind an equation, one can get to understand that equations are just mere abstractions and not alien concepts that cannot be understood.