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At 09:35 AM 4/23/01 -0700, Larry Woolf wrote:solve
3 types of Physics Problems/Solutions:
(1) Conceptual solution
Pictures, words, diagrams
(2) Standard physics solution
Use physics principles, laws, equations to solve exactly and
quantitatively a well defined problem
(3) Real Life Solution
Problem is often ill-defined, many unknowns, too complex to
abilitiesdirectly, interdisciplinary; team work required; may use commercial
computer codes to solve because of the problem's complexity
That makes a number of valid and very important points.
In school, focus is on 2.
In real life, focus is on 1 and 3.
Slightly overstated perhaps. My $.02 worth:
-- Usually (1) cannot exist without (2). Qualitative "conceptual"
reasoning in the hands of a master leads to getting the right answer
quickly. In the hands of non-masters it all to often leads to getting the
wrong answer quickly. The folks I know who have great conceptual
are _also_ really good at calculating things. Occasionally you can takenoise.
someone who has good conceptual skills and limited quantitative skills and
pair him with someone who has the quantitative skills -- but it is
exceedingly hard to form such a team and make it work. Without the
quantitative backup, the conceptual stuff is just guessing. It's random
real
-- Outside the classroom, (2) usually doesn't exist without (1). In
life, you need to have a conceptual understanding of the problem beforeyou
have a clue what formulas to apply.what
-- I was certainly taught approximation methods in school. But then
again I was blessed with an educational opportunity that most people can
barely imagine.
The industrial physicist:
5 % of time spent on physics problem solving
20% of time in meetings, and one-on-one discussions, traveling
30% of time writing reports, presentations, proposals -
30% of time planning what is to be done and documenting and summarizing
has been done - e.g. using Excel spreadsheets
15% of time reading, researching
It varies a lot, but those numbers serve to illustrate the point.