You might be...

**Moe** · October 29th, 2009, 09:45 AM

YOU MIGHT BE A PHYSICS MAJOR...

if you have no life - and you can PROVE it mathematically.

if you enjoy pain.

if you know vector calculus but you can't remember how to do long division.

if you chuckle whenever anyone says "centrifugal force."

if you've actually used every single function on your graphing calculator.

if when you look in a mirror, you see a physics major.

if it is sunny and 70 degrees outside, and you are working on a computer.

if you frequently whistle the theme song to "MacGyver."

if you always do homework on Friday nights.

if you know how to integrate a chicken and can take the derivative of water.

if you think in "math."

if you've calculated that the World Series actually diverges.

if you hesitate to look at something because you don't want to break down its wave function.

if you have a pet named after a scientist.

if you laugh at jokes about mathematicians.

if the Humane society has you arrested because you actually performed the Schrodinger's Cat experiment.

if you can translate English into Binary.

if you can't remember what's behind the door in the science building which says "Exit."

if you have to bring a jacket with you, in the middle of summer, because there's a wind-chill factor in the lab.

If you are completely addicted to caffeine.

if you avoid doing anything because you don't want to contribute to the eventual heat-death of the universe.

if you consider ANY non-science course "easy."

if when your professor asks you where your homework is, you claim to have accidentally determined its momentum so precisely, that according to Heisenberg it could be anywhere in the universe.

if the "fun" center of your brain has deteriorated from lack of use.

if you'll assume that a "horse" is a "sphere" in order to make the math easier.

if you understood more than five of these indicators.

if you make a hard copy of this list, and post it on your door.

If these indicators apply to you, there is good reason to suspect that you might be classified as a physics major. I hope this clears up any confusion.

**Moe** · October 29th, 2009, 10:10 AM

Zeke would have a field day with this post. Good thing Savage Indian ran his ass off.

**Harmon Rabb** · October 29th, 2009, 01:08 PM

Quote:

if when your professor asks you where your homework is, you claim to have accidentally determined its momentum so precisely, that according to Heisenberg it could be anywhere in the universe.

f***ing

i wish i had been clever enough to use that one

Quote:

if you know vector calculus but you can't remember how to do long division.

that was me in my last couple years of my EE studies

**Moe** · October 29th, 2009, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harmon Rabb

f***ing

i wish i had been clever enough to use that one

that was me in my last couple years of my EE studies

I used that joke in a presentation I gave in a quantum computing class.

I started talking about why I chose my particular topic, as opposed to a different one that the professor suggested.

I stated that I only found one book in the library that had any decent info on the (professor's suggested) topic. So I went back to the library the next day and I couldn't find that book again. Then I went back again the following day, and couldn't find the entire row of books I was looking at the day before. I was afraid to go back to the library the next day for fear that the whole place would be gone. Then I realized that some practical joker had just moved every book in the library one row over. Then I said that although I couldn't locate the book I was looking for, I did know its momentum.

**Harmon Rabb** · October 29th, 2009, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moe

I used that joke in a presentation I gave in a quantum computing class.

I started talking about why I chose my particular topic, as opposed to a different one that the professor suggested.

I stated that I only found one book in the library that had any decent info on the (professor's suggested) topic. So I went back to the library the next day and I couldn't find that book again. Then I went back again the following day, and couldn't find the entire row of books I was looking at the day before. I was afraid to go back to the library the next day for fear that the whole place would be gone. Then I realized that some practical joker had just moved every book in the library one row over. Then I said that although I couldn't locate the book I was looking for, I did know its momentum.

btw i get more than 5 of those

**Moe** · October 29th, 2009, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harmon Rabb

btw i get more than 5 of those

if when you look in a mirror, you see a physics major.
if you always do homework on Friday nights. Because I work Friday nights, too.
if you laugh at jokes about mathematicians. ...and physicists, and chemists, and engineers...
if you consider ANY non-science course "easy."
if you understood more than five of these indicators.

These could apply to me.

**Harmon Rabb** · October 29th, 2009, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moe

if you know vector calculus but you can't remember how to do long division.

if it is sunny and 70 degrees outside, and you are working on a computer.

if you hesitate to look at something because you don't want to break down its wave function.

if you laugh at jokes about mathematicians.

if the Humane society has you arrested because you actually performed the Schrodinger's Cat experiment.

if you can translate English into Binary.

if you avoid doing anything because you don't want to contribute to the eventual heat-death of the universe.

if you consider ANY non-science course "easy."

if when your professor asks you where your homework is, you claim to have accidentally determined its momentum so precisely, that according to Heisenberg it could be anywhere in the universe.
if you'll assume that a "horse" is a "sphere" in order to make the math easier.

if you understood more than five of these indicators.

these either apply to me, or i understand them

**TK_05** · October 29th, 2009, 03:41 PM

**Moe** · October 31st, 2009, 08:47 PM

Everything I Needed to Know in Life I Learned from Jackson Electrodynamics

Realization:
Amazingly, you really can use all that math from high school that you thought you never would! Even better (or worse), it’s actually not as hard as you thought it would be.

Lesson learned:
You never know when some bit of knowledge will be useful. Keep Learning.

Realization:
Graphing Calculators aren’t as useful as you thought. As a matter of fact, the old fashioned calculators are just as useful, and may be used, at most, once a month for a Jackson problem.

Lesson learned:
Make sure you understand what you are doing and why – don’t just run through the steps or rely on someone or something else to do it for you.

Realization:
Mathematica isn’t as smart as you thought – even it can’t do some of Jackson’s integrals.

Lesson learned:
Computers are useful tools, but they cannot replace human knowledge and intuition. Don’t trust them blindly. They can spit out answers that are wrong, which can cause your professor to take 3 weeks trying to figure out why it was wrong.

Realization:
Integration Tables and other Math Tables are more useful than any computer. Jackson must have made it his mission in life to revert arrogant graduate students back to the old ways. In the next edition, do not be surprised if slide rules are required.

Lesson learned:
Sometimes, the old ways really are better. Don’t dismiss them as being out of date or stranding in the way of progress. They may prevent you from looking stupid (like writing an answer down that goes to infinity when it shouldn’t)

Realization:
Trying to do Jackson problems alone, without help from your fellow classmates, is like trying to push an 18 wheeler out of the mud by yourself wearing flip flops and with a broken leg.

Lesson learned:
Working together is important and a necessary part of life. Learn to collaborate.

Realization:
Relying too heavily on your classmates and not pulling your weight while working on Jackson problems is a quick way to make enemies and fail tests.

Lesson learned:
Getting rewarded for something that you didn’t earn is not only unfair to those who did earn the rewards, it will come back to bite you in the end.

Realization:
If you think undergraduate physics classes were tough without a full night’s sleep, try Jackson. If you saw the movie Pi, then the scene towards the end with the drill is the equivalent to trying working a Jackson problem without sleep.

Lesson learned:
Sleeping and personal time away from work is an important part of achieving success.

Realization:
One Jackson problem takes an average of 1.5 weeks to finish. Most of this time is often spent working on the first part of a multipart problem. An approximate breakdown of the timeline of solving a Jackson problem is: wasted doing the problem the wrong way.
a. Days 1-2: Arguing about what exactly the problem is asking, what assumptions to make, why the problem can’t be done as stated, why Mathematica cannot handle the integral, why Jackson probably didn’t do any of these problems, why the intial 10 pages of algebra failed to deliver the correct answer.
b. Day 3: Rechecking the 10 pages of algebra for a missing minus signs and factors of 2.
c. Day 4: Starting the problem over the exact same way as before since it is not clear where the algebra mistake came from.
d. Day 5: Discussing with the professor and realizing the problem is not as easy/hard as previously thought and that 4 days were wasted doing the problem the wrong way.
e. Day 6: Reworking the problem this new way: 13 pages of Algebra.
f. Day 7: Realizing this new way didn’t work either, and discussing with professor why it was wrong. After getting an extension and “knowing” the correct way to do the problem, swearing it will get done tomorrow.
g. Day 8: After working 15 pages of Algebra, you realize that a minus sign was left out on page 2. Reworking all of it, you are off by a factor of 2 from the expected answer. Going back and reworking, you find the missing factor on page 3 of 16. The first part of a 3 part problem is now done. No other homework or research was none today (or the past 5 days).
h. Day 9: Part b is not as hard, but still takes 6 pages of Algebra.
i. Day 10: Part c takes 2 pages of algebra and a page of words trying to answer a conceptual question that no one cares about at this point.
j. Day 11: Turn in the homework assignment, and reflect on how much was learned and how horrible the problem was. It takes 24 pages total.

Lesson learned:
Procrastinating solving problems is a BAD BAD BAD idea. They only become that much more insurmountable.
Perseverance is an important virtue to have. No problem is insurmountable if you don’t give up (unless you procrastinate).
Be careful not to make careless mistakes – they can take a lot of time to fix.
A lot can be learned from the difficulties that one encounters in life – you just have to take time to reflect on them.

Realization:
Undergraduate E&M is about solving the simple problems exactly. Jackson E&M is about learning to approximate reliably. The entire book, with few exceptions, is a mathematical discussion on finding way to solve only 4 equations for different boundary conditions. Most of the time, this requires series expansions and other approximation techniques.

Lesson learned:
In an ideal world, the exact solution not only exists, but with a little work can be arrived at. Realistically, most problems cannot be solved exactly without relaxing the conditions and compromising. This doesn’t mean that the exact/ideal solution doesn’t exist; it just means no one has found it. Most of the time, this is ok because we can live with the compromise – sometimes we have to live with it. However, in many instances, finding a more perfect solution or the ideal solution is necessary and worth working for. If we settled for the approximation and didn’t try to improve the solution, then physicists, doctors, politicians, religious, and many others would have been out of a job a long time ago.

Realization:
Graduate student bonding takes place while doing Jackson problems. As a matter of fact, completing a course on Jackson Electrodynamics places you in a special club for students who survived Jackson. You are now connected, in a very special way, to everyone else who has ever taken a course with that infamous text book – professors and graduate students alike. It will be a subject of conversations with physicists you meet from far away places.

Lesson learned:
You are not alone in this world. The human condition is shared by everyone regardless of race, nationality, gender, religion, class, and personality. No matter how bad you have it, someone else can relate. It is important to realize that we are all connected in a special way, just by being human, and that we are called to break down barriers between us. We need each other, and your actions affect everyone else somehow. Also, overcoming challenges together can form very close bonds.

And the number one lesson I learned from Jackson Electrodynamics:

I should have taken the easy way out and gone to law school.

**Harmon Rabb** · November 2nd, 2009, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moe

I should have taken the easy way out and gone to law school.

i'll freely admit that i found law school to be a joke compared to my EE degree. all my colleagues agree, especially the dude who got his EE degree from Georgia Tech

hard science degree > any other degree you can get

**George Jung** · November 2nd, 2009, 05:43 PM

I got all of them and chuckled at a few. Only one I didn't get was "if you know how to integrate a chicken and can take the derivative of water."

I'm surprised there wasn't something thing in there about performing some crazy calculation but not knowing how to use a comma or a semi colon. Oh yeah, and a joke about being comfortable with every kind of number but a gir's

**George Jung** · November 2nd, 2009, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harmon Rabb

i'll freely admit that i found law school to be a joke compared to my EE degree. all my colleagues agree, especially the dude who got his EE degree from Georgia Tech

hard science degree > any other degree you can get

My grades aren't as good as yours, but I agree wholeheartedly, if you're talking about the last half of undergrad when you take real courses. There are no BS gen ed classes like undergrad, so law school is harder in that sense, but it's not harder than full time + all engineering classes.

I also think EE is harder than ME.

**Harmon Rabb** · November 3rd, 2009, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by George Jung

My grades aren't as good as yours, but I agree wholeheartedly, if you're talking about the last half of undergrad when you take real courses. There are no BS gen ed classes like undergrad, so law school is harder in that sense, but it's not harder than full time + all engineering classes.

You're not a 3rd year yet, are you?

In your 3L year, you can take all "seminars" which are bulls*** do-nothing classes in which you get A's. My GPA suffered a little in my 3rd year because I actually took real classes and got some B's and B+'s, while my colleagues took the bulls*** classes and got A's. Think I graduated with a 3.85?

Quote:

I also think EE is harder than ME.

depends on the classes you take. if you take more classes on the digital side, EE isn't that hard once you get through all the required classes. if you go for the analog side of things...

i took a mix of digital, analog, and power systems.