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/sci/ - Science & Math


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7943992 No.7943992 [Reply] [Original]

What's something that's notoriously hard to understand in your given field of study?

Pic unrelated

>> No.7944031

>>7943992
What is the square root of negative four and can I divide it with a number closer to zero than itself and receive a dividend of positive four?

>> No.7944064
File: 12 KB, 240x177, dividend.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7944064

>>7944031
sqrt(-4) = 2i

okay

>can i divide it with a number closer to zero than itself and receive a dividend of positive four

...no...

the fact that the dividend be closer to zero than itself would not allow for the dividend to be four...

>> No.7945463

bump

>> No.7945656

>2016
>being in college
>not dropping out
Get real

>> No.7945674

>>7943992
Tunnel field-effect transistors. One of those spooky esoteric black-magic things that work and have predictable properties but nobody I know actually ''''knows''''' why they work.

>> No.7945701
File: 55 KB, 153x189, 4e2acd4ca672b4d76a90f567b00bb46f.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7945701

>>7945656
>2016
>being white

>> No.7945816

>>7943992
For some reason normies can't grasp pointers. I am not sure why.

>> No.7945820

>>7943992
What is a bond [chemistry].

>> No.7945826

>>7945816
this

why do people find them so difficult? it's literally in the name.

>> No.7945832
File: 158 KB, 720x480, 1455990271661.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7945832

>>7945701
>implying good colleges have non-whites or non-asias

>> No.7945839

>>7944031
Negative numbers aren't real, its just a positive number in another direction, square roots of negative numbers are purposeless.

>> No.7945840
File: 51 KB, 450x487, CSGrad.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7945840

How to write decent code, apparently.

>> No.7945853

>>7945832
I am not that anon but I don't think you got the joke.

>> No.7945861
File: 54 KB, 699x636, 1410551185295.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7945861

>>7945840
My favorite meme.

>> No.7945871
File: 84 KB, 694x732, 1410541206497.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7945871

>>7945861

>> No.7945882

Just interviews a bunch of college students for internships at my company for software development.

Not many can wrap their heads around recursion.

>> No.7945885

Triple integrals, because that's the point where STE babbies divide from the M at my uni. Babby Proof technicuqes are also another candidate because that's where the CS babbies divide from the M.

>> No.7945902

>>7945885
I just proved that if n > 0 then n + 1 > 0 by recursion.

topkek I am a CS freshman and I'm already coming up with PhD math material?

Git fucking gud m8.

>> No.7945982

>>7945826
Personally it was the syntax. It's super simple stuff now that I've used C++ a bit but initially, reading code with * and & literally everywhere, took some time to get use to.

The concept of a pointer is pretty simple and straightforward.

>> No.7945990

>>7945982
>I swear guys I didn't fail arithmethic because I was retarded! I was all the dumb '+'s and '-'s that that confused me :^)

>I swear you guys, we CS majors are really smort! :^)

>> No.7946003

>>7945990
I'm not a CS major, dick bag. Had to update software on our products because the original developers went under, so learned some basic C++.

I'm just saying, I can understand why it would be the first thing people would be confused by.

But please, continue riding your high horse into the sunset.

>> No.7946275

>>7943992
A postdoc in algebraic topology told me that Perelman's proof of the Poincaré conjecture is notoriously hard to understand.

In my field, in some sense the fundamental theorem of forcing qualifies. While forcing in practice is fairly easy given the fundamental theorem of forcing, holding the whole construction in one's mind at once is very difficult. I have heard grad students in set theory who have been utilizing forcing at the research level for years say they feel like they still don't truly understand forcing.

>> No.7946292

>>7945826
because its difficult to keep track of pointers when writing functions that manipulate them with recursion

>> No.7946329

>>7946292
>actually using recursion outside of an academic setting

>> No.7946374

>>7946275
Well this is a pleasant surprise: A person who understands forcing. And on /sci/ no less. What uni?

>> No.7946377

>>7943992
Monads and adjunctions.

>> No.7946379

>>7946329
It's literally the best way to write code that's easily provably correct.

>> No.7946469
File: 52 KB, 539x324, wah_wah.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
7946469

>>7943992
>quantizing the Chern-Simons action
Lmao just fucking kill me

>> No.7946619

Did Venus once have plate tectonics before it transitioned to a solid lid tectonic system? What is Titan's disappearing island?

>> No.7946656

the fucking thought process of my fucking students

>> No.7946885

>>7945816
I don't understand the difficulties with it too. For me pointers are actually a far easier concept than getting used to every programming languages personal call by value//reference-scheme.

>> No.7946887

>>7945871
Why would someone do this?

>> No.7946896

>>7945990
>lelelelele CS major so stoopid meme
>hahaha XD so funny XD CS so le dumb

>> No.7946929

I still can't understand how the fuck did they come up with all the hardware ideas. Like how the fuck do you do all this shit with just 0's and 1's. That's why I love the degree tho.

>> No.7946968

>>7946896
And here you can see the CS major react to a banana whilst hungry.

>> No.7947260

>>7946374
Don't know why you're curious, but Berkeley.

>> No.7947349

>>7944031
Tends towards negative infinity