Re:What is it like to understand advanced mathematics?
by selimthegrim on Wednesday August 17, 2016 @08:12PM
(#12309532)
A bigger problem is the difference between Hermitian and self adjoint, a lot of physics professors don't understand that.
Or for example, this famous dialogue between Geoffrey Chew and Arthur Wightman from the 1960s bootstrap fad:
Wightman asked Chew: why assume from the start that the S-matrix was analytic? Why not try to derive it from simpler principles? Chew replied that "everything in physics is smooth". Wightman asked about smooth functions that aren't analytic. Chew thought a moment and replied that there weren't any.
Or for example, this famous dialogue between Geoffrey Chew and Arthur Wightman from the 1960s bootstrap fad:
Wightman asked Chew: why assume from the start that the S-matrix was analytic? Why not try to derive it from simpler principles? Chew replied that "everything in physics is smooth". Wightman asked about smooth functions that aren't analytic. Chew thought a moment and replied that there weren't any.