/sci/ - Science & Math

Well yesterday I had an English Lit. MA telling me how he didn't believe in general relativity because it didn't have any facts to back it up. He said it was in the same position as String Theory.

That was... a low point.

If it makes you feel any better, it probably didn't make them think any less of you specifically, but all undergrads as a whole.

First day of coop work term. The big boss is giving me a tour of the lab. He pauses talking and extends his hand towards me. I figure he must want a handshake even though the posture isn't quite right and we just did that a minute ago; I can't leave him hanging. I grab his hand and try to shake it. He acts surprised and tries to wriggle out of it.

He was pointing at my pants. He was trying to think of a polite way to tell me my to wear clean ones tomorrow.

My grandfather was a Physicist and he helps my here and there. I remember when we first started tutoring and I wasn't very bright; he always looked ashamed. Felt bad.

>>5749911

The ones that didn't have spaghetti all over them.

>believe in general relativity

is general relativity a religion?

>>5749908
this is not wrong

>>5749921
It's a theory.

>>5749921
locality is just a tensor (guage)

My third grade teacher insisted that the Matterhorn was actually called the "Atterhorn" even after I looked it up in the dictionary for her. I can't comprehend what would lead her to believe that.

>>5749903
So your professors never make any mistakes? I have never encountered that.

>>5749947
it's quite the phenomenon

>>5749907
Please tell me MA doesnt mean professor

>>5749982
"Master of Arts" a.k.a. Bullshit

>>5749983
Master of Arts? What is he, a video game villain?

>>5749985
probably a better job than the one he has

Grades 7-12 and my freshmen year of college.

Everything past 6th grade has just been recycled and taught. The only subject that saw new content was math. You can drop out of public education at Grade 6 and be as smart as any high school graduate, as long as you teach yourself math. Middle school and high school felt patronizing. Freshmen year felt extra patronizing.

After the first year of college things got a lot better.

>seminar about my computational chemistry studies
>i talk about configuration state functions in an MCSCF calculation and tell them the square of all the CSF coefficients should sum up to unity
>a polymer professor "cleverly" asks why is that?
i just felt bad for the woman cuz that's the best question she could conjure, the only thing she remembers regarding quantum mechanics
i wonder why do we even bother talking about our studies where nobody understands or gives a fuck...experimental section observes some stuff and publishes it no question without any actual science behind it but we work and work and work to the very core of everything, explain some chemical phenomena at electronic level, talk about exchange stabilization, unconventional excited singlet characters, spin-orbit coupling contrbiutions and it's still not publishable

i regret choosing theoretical chemistry
it's fun to do but certain no-nobel path

>>5750019
Are you sure she wasn't genuinely curious?

>>5750024
yea, we corroborated with her in a paper, she asked me what an orbital is...
another one asked how do we find the formal charges
i knew the titles didn't really mean shit but this is pathetic

>be in high school
>everything before high school was easy as fuck so I never learned to study well
>math going sideways (either tests turned out to be a F or with luck D-)
>study harder than ever on this one math test
>study so much I ignore everything else
>go to test and it turns out fairly easy
>feel confident about it, hope I'll score at least a C
>tests come back and it's a D
>completely crushing
>didn't do well at anything else because turned all focus on studying for that test

How do I into math /sci/?

>>5750038
if it's not naturally working out for you, it never will
sorry...

>>5750038
Take a couple days to cool off, then go right back to studying like you were before. Ask your teacher questions, and ask your TAs if you have them. Don't be afraid to ask general questions on /sci/. Also, be smarter than you currently are.

>>5750034
That's horrifying. I hope you lied and told them the wrong thing.

>>5750043
I'll have to try that as I don't want to believe >>5750040 just yet.

>>5750061
Keep in mind that a huge part of math is learning the language. The more time you spend immersing yourself in assignments, the better you will understand what the questions are asking and how to answer.

>>5750038
>be highschool
>everything before high school went to shit because I never studied and got constant F's and D's
>math going sideways in highschool, get constant A's and B+'s
>same with physics and chemistry
>every other subject goes to shit because I don't care
>go on /sci/ calling biology etc a soft science and irrelevant
how do I into biology and other shit subjects, /sci/?

>>5749918
haaaaaaaaaaa

pulled an allnighter to prepare for a speech

did the speech well, then asked very simple questions and I completely went blank due to no sleep

stood there trying to think for like 20 seconds before blurting out the wrong answer. Corrected myself after seeing the look on everyones faces but the shame...

oh well, so much for that letter of recommendation from the dean that was in attendance.

Someone on /sci/ mentioned consciousness.
I couldn't believe they put faith in magical fairy tales.
I directed them to /x/ but they didn't go.

>>5751759
How boring.

>>5749911

>normal He

oh boy

>pathology presentation
>call oesophagus trachea
>lecturer calls out and corrects me
>say "yeah whatever" almost instinctively.
>lecturer shocked
>this guy basically discovered apoptosis

>>5751759
Well done

Well i spend 4 years in the chemical engineering career, but in that Time I Couldnt ass second year Math, the School was very shitty, then I got expelled and worked with dad a year And. Half, now i give it. Second try in nother university, from the Start. The Pain and Low cinfidence of My failure never goes way :_(

>>5749903

>Be in gen ed micro-econ
>professor actually says the reason the US economy is failing is because the 27 million aborted babies are not part of the work force.

>>5750038
>be in high school
>never had any trouble with school before- so never studied
>get into ACT- late, just barely get in before we begin
>come out feeling like I could have a 34
>get a 28

It's okay, because I took the SAT after and scored a 1520

>>5752198

>>5750038
>be in Uni
>Comp Sci class
>it's easy as shit
>breeze through all the lab assignments, am usually always the first one does
>other students in my lab regularly ask me for help
>submitted programs for homework always get 100s
>fail entire course because of forgetting the odd semicolon or other syntax errors on exams, and exams count for so much the rest of the course is essentially irrelevant
And that's when I dropped out and went into IT.

>>5752448
>>5750038
>be in Uni
>Comp Sci class
>it's easy as shit
>breeze through all the lab assignments, am usually always the first one done
>other students in my lab regularly ask me for help
>submitted programs for homework always get 100s
>fail entire course because of forgetting the odd semicolon or other syntax errors on hand-written exams, and exams count for so much the rest of the course is essentially irrelevant
And that's when I dropped out and went into IT.

>>5752453

I got a B in calc 1 because of this. I'd either make stupid mistakes or run out of time on the tests. Now I do theoretical physics..

>don't ask question
>never appear stupid
>fail at life because you never ask questions

>>5752388
>1520
hahahahah

>>5749903
HOW FUCKING DARE YOU

>>5752495
Running out of time is pretty bullshit, but tiny errors on the actual math part are still errors. Sure, if you leave out a semicolon on a program it won't compile, but there will NEVER be a real-world scenario where you are writing out a program on paper. You could write the best code ever written on a piece of notebook paper, but it's not going to compile itself off the paper. When you write a program and you have an error, you just fucking fix the error. Failing students for syntax on HAND-WRITTEN tests is just sheer idiocy.

>>5750040
>>5750061
That's bullshit. I was getting F's and D's in math in high school and know I'm pulling A's and B's in college. Determination is everything.

>>5752453
>>5752388
>>5752495

>>5752509
I'm fairly sure he meant out of 1600

>>5752514
>straight As in HS maths
>C in single var, D in linear algebra
kill me

>>5752015
LOL.

Has no one read this? Oh God.

>in intro comp sci class
>lazy as hell
>final project
>day before it's due
>try to work together with friends
>they don't know shit
>use a rather complicated while loop to compensate for my lack of understanding of how the project was supposed to be done
>gets stuck in while loop
>have to turn the shit in bc of deadline
>fix the error like an hour later
>tfw I got a 20

>>5749903
that even put shame on my face...

every fucking second