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Why should non-scientists learn physics?



I am somewhat confused by Dan M's statement below.

I would agree that a formal error analysis technique would be unnecessary
for non-scientists but even non-scientists need to be able to analyze
their measurements, don't they? Otherwise, why do experiments at all? I
see too many secondary-school "experiments" in which differences between
measurement and prediction is "hand-waved" away because students are not
required (or expected) to do any analysis.

Just curious, why should non-scientists learn physics?

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| Robert Cohen Department of Physics |
| East Stroudsburg University |
| bbq@esu.edu East Stroudsburg, PA 18301 |
| http://www.esu.edu/~bbq/ (570) 422-3428 |
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On Fri, 9 Mar 2001, Daniel L. MacIsaac wrote:

There are measurement analysis notes used for the first year physics labs
at Purdue University at http://www.physics.purdue.edu/phys152l/
look under MA1 and MA2 for the two lectures, examples and worksheets on
measurement analysis. PHY 152L is a lab for calculus-based physics for
engineers and scientists. I feel measurement analysis is EXTREMELY appropriate
for this population. I would NOT recommend teaching measurement analysis to
non-engineers or scientists; they are learning physics for different reasons.

Dan M

Dan MacIsaac, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Northern AZ Univ
danmac@nau.edu http://purcell.phy.nau.edu PHYS-L list owner