Re: real-life physics

["John S. Denker" <jsd@MONMOUTH.COM>]

At 09:35 AM 4/23/01 -0700, Larry Woolf wrote:

> 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 solve
> directly, 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 abilities
are _also_ really good at calculating things.  Occasionally you can take
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 noise.

 -- Outside the classroom, (2) usually doesn't exist without (1).  In real
life, you need to have a conceptual understanding of the problem before you
have a clue what formulas to apply.

 -- 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 what
> 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.