nonelvis | (no subject)

Questions I occasionally ponder: why is it, whenever I write science fiction (even fanfic), inevitably my scientific handwaving involves quantum mechanics? I have a mercifully dim memory of that class -- sophomore year, when I still thought I was going to get that joint major in chemical engineering and creative writing (shut up, it made perfect sense at the time), and mostly what I remember is trying to do a lot of really terrifying math involving many Greek letters. Well, that and thinking that whichever professor had said that differential equations wasn't actually a prerequisite for this class was lying out his ass.

And yet, here I sit, doggedly typing away at the Ten and Donna genfic I'm afraid I'm going to hate by the time I actually finish it, and there's a central plot point closely related to quantum mechanics.

At least it isn't string theory again this time. But it probably should be, because string theory is fucking hysterical if you think about it for even half a minute, and frankly, this story could use a little more humor.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's cos quantum mechanics is MAGIC.

That would at least explain why the math never made any sense.

You might find A Ridiculously Short History of Time (http://www.12am.com/arshot.htm) entertaining.

Yes. Yes, I would. It is exactly the kind of geeky humor I find irresistable. "Snack Foods Form: the Great Boson Diet ends in failure" -- HAHAHAHAHA!

Again, this is highly tangential, but at tutoring last week, I helped an 11th grader with mechanics and trig questions. I hadn't done the former in 25 years and the latter in 29, and somehow I pulled it out of my butt (though I had to read through all of the lesson in the book for the trig part first).

Assuming you're talking classical mechanics and not quantum mechanics, I'd be hopeless at that. I am still deeply grateful to the 'Tute for allowing us frosh to call a "D" a passing grade, because otherwise, I'd probably still be taking 8.01 and 8.02. (Actually, I think I might have gotten the equivalent of a C in 8.01, but barely.)

Trig, however, would be no problem once I refreshed my memory about the basics.