Fizziks jokes

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by MrFun
How are you able to do so well in physics if you do poorly in mathematics?

I'm pretty sure he rejects the premise.

[Lul Thyme]

Originally posted by MrFun
How are you able to do so well in physics if you do poorly in mathematics?

I'm guessing the exam was simply hard and that his grade wasn't that bad in context.

It's actually fairly easy in mathematics to greatly change the actual difficulty of a test with only subtle changes. Inexperienced professors (or professors that just don't care) might do this, especially if they are teaching outside the "standard" courses like calculus where the potential questions can almost be listed.

[Japher]

You might be an engineer if . . .

. . . you have no life and can prove it mathematically.

. . . you enjoy pain.

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

. . . you chuckle whenever anyone says “centrifugal force.”

. . . you’ve actually ever used every single function on your graphing calculator.

. . . when you look in the mirror, you see an engineering major.

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

. . . you frequently whistle the theme song to “MacGyver.”

. . . you always do homework on Friday nights.

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

. . . you think in “math.”

. . . you’ve calculated that the World Series actually diverges.

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

. . . you have a pet named after a scientist.

. . . you laugh at jokes about mathematicians.

. . . the Humane Society has had you arrested because you actually performed the Schroedinger’s Cat Experiment.

. . . you can translate English into Binary.

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

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

. . . you are completely addicted to caffeine.

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

. . . you consider any non-science course “easy.”

. . . 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.

. . . the “fun” center of your brain has deteriorated from lack of use.

. . . you’ll assume that a “horse” is a “sphere” in order to make the math easier.

. . . you understood more than five of these indicators.

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

. . . you think it might be a neat idea to send this message to all of your friends in the form of email.

. . . you know the glass is neither half full nor half empty; it's simply twice as big as it needs to be.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Lul Thyme


I'm guessing the exam was simply hard and that his grade wasn't that bad in context.

It's actually fairly easy in mathematics to greatly change the actual difficulty of a test with only subtle changes. Inexperienced professors (or professors that just don't care) might do this, especially if they are teaching outside the "standard" courses like calculus where the potential questions can almost be listed.

ah

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by MrFun
How are you able to do so well in physics if you do poorly in mathematics?

Ahhh, the glorious ignorance of what I mean by "algebra" demonstrated by arts majors

[KrazyHorse]

The exam involved proving 4 completely novel theorems regarding 3 newly defined concepts (defined on the exam) in 50 minutes.

I proved 1 thing and wrote down some nonsense on the other things. This put me slightly above average. Nobody in the class fully proved 2 things.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse


Ahhh, the glorious ignorance of what I mean by "algebra" demonstrated by arts majors

It's true - I suck sooooo bad in mathematics. Never did well in it.

[onodera]

Our calculus TA had an opinion that the tests should be so hard that the best person in the group could almost finish solving one on time.

[dannubis]

Indeed...

In my first year at university we got an exam on Calculus...

3 hours later I had solved 2 out of 5 problems. I bull****ted my way out of the other 3 problems.

Imagine my surprise when I came out as one of 5 out of ~300 with an A+.

The art of POOMA !!!

[KrazyHorse]

onodera

Err...yeah. That's a good rule of thumb (and is generally followed in physics and mathematics, from what I've seen). The purpose of tests is to provide a metric of knowledge and ability (under time pressure). Tests can be too easy or too hard to accomplish this goal. Crowding students at the top or the bottom of the distribution is a bad idea because in these cases dissimilar levels of knowledge and ability garner similar results and the test is therefore a bad metric.

I would say that the average score in undergraduate physics and math exams (NOT in intro classes like calculus) in my experience is somewhere between 50% and 60%.

[KrazyHorse]

Ideally I like to structure 3 hour exams as ~6 problems with ~4 parts in each (either explicitly separate parts or as different steps needed to accomplish the goal of solving the problem). The parts of each question should increase in difficulty from first to last while the questions should be of similar overall difficulty while covering the breadth of material in the course. The best student in the class should be able to do all of 4 questions and most of the other 2 (giving him ~90% raw score).

[Kuciwalker]

Are you a professor now?

[KrazyHorse]

No. Why? Do you think your profs are the ones who write your exams?

[Kuciwalker]

No, I was just curious, since you got your PhD a while ago.

[KrazyHorse]

you got your PhD a while ago

No.