• Question: How many formulas/equations can you remember and how often do you use them?

    Asked by jeevan to Arttu, Ceri, James_M, Philip on 23 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Arttu Rajantie

      Arttu Rajantie answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      I don’t have a good memory, so I only remember the really simple ones by heart. Usually I try to understand the meaning of the equation instead, because then I can often figure out what the precise form is or look it up if necessary.

    • Photo: Ceri Brenner

      Ceri Brenner answered on 23 Jun 2011:

      I’m the same as Arttu!

      I remembered more equations during my A-levels than I do now! but i think the difference now is that i know how to derive them from first principles (well, the easy classical ones anyway, not the quantum ones) so I don’t need to memorise them.

      I use equations quite a lot, but I tend to use the same ones over and over and after a while they stick in your head.

    • Photo: James M Monk

      James M Monk answered on 23 Jun 2011:

      Not that many really. In day-to-day work most of the maths is already written up inside computer libraries for things like Lorentz transforms or anything else you would commonly use.

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