Question.

[IndiaRubber]

I have always been interested in medicine and it is my chosen field of study... but recently, i've been reading a lot on theoretical physics and mathematics and it seems far more meaningful in the

larger span of things ( and by this i mean the workings of the universe - i'm not underestimating the work of doctors/surgeons here at all). This being said, it seems to me that I have neither the ingrained mathematical ability nor the solid basics ( have been to 9+ schools with different teaching systems) to study such things... or to one day study biology/chemistry to the advanced level I'd like to because of my average maths skills ( afterall advanced biology is essentially chemistry, advanced chemistry is physics and advanced physics is math...)

 

...which begs the following (perhaps naive) questions that I would be delighted if you could try and answer:

 

1)do you think excellence in mathematics -and thus science- depend mostly on ingrained ability, or is hard work and some ingrained competency enough?

 

2)can anyone hope to understand complicated concepts or in anyway affect our current understanding of the workings of the world and its constituents without a strong understanding of mathematics?

 

3) I am 18 years old and unlike some of my physics/math buddies, I cannot derive the Shrodinger equation or churn out complicated proofs of x=y. I have completed high-school level work with a good understanding of it ( especially in biology) but that's about it. Does this mean that I will never achieve anything particularly meaningful in my scientific career?

I want to excel in whatever I am involved in and I feel I might be able to given the right guidance, but I feel incredibly small and stupid compared to the other 18 year olds out there who are physics-math people "from birth" and are already beginning to touch at the threads of a universe that, as a future surgeon, I am worried I will never really grasp or add to.

 

Sorry about the unclear layout of my post and "basic-ness" of my question. It's been a hard month.

 

Thank you (:

[farmboy]

Firstly I would say that it is not true at all that advanced biology is chemistry and advanced chemistry is physics etc. The subjects have areas of overlap, but it's entirely wrong to think of them as going in order like that. If you really want to do physics then you are almost certainly going to need to be able to do some complex maths, but you can study chemistry or biology, and make real scientific breakthroughs in each without significant mathematical knowledge. Each of the science requires different skill sets. Just because someone is a brilliant mathematician, that doesn't mean they would make a good biologist.

[Bignose]

Just to second farmboy here, but there is a lot of research, some good, some not-so-good, that can be done without math. This is even prevalent in some traditionally very math-centric fields, like engineering and physics. There have been many seminars and talks at national engineering and physics conferences where the slides have only 1 or 2 equations in the entire talk. Many presentations would even have no equations. Coincidentally or not, these non-mathy talks are almost always bio-technology or nano-technology related.

 

Now, are these people doing physics and engineering with math? That's probably a different question. Nevertheless, it is possible today to be a researcher in physics and engineering without being necessarily strong in math. You have never had to be very strong in math to do research in chemistry or biology. There are the subfields of mathematical biology and the like, but most biologists only grudgingly took calculus and a stat class or two that's about it. No differential equations, no theory and derivations.

[foodchain]

I have always been interested in medicine and it is my chosen field of study... but recently, i've been reading a lot on theoretical physics and mathematics and it seems far more meaningful in the

larger span of things ( and by this i mean the workings of the universe - i'm not underestimating the work of doctors/surgeons here at all). This being said, it seems to me that I have neither the ingrained mathematical ability nor the solid basics ( have been to 9+ schools with different teaching systems) to study such things... or to one day study biology/chemistry to the advanced level I'd like to because of my average maths skills ( afterall advanced biology is essentially chemistry, advanced chemistry is physics and advanced physics is math...)

 

...which begs the following (perhaps naive) questions that I would be delighted if you could try and answer:

 

1)do you think excellence in mathematics -and thus science- depend mostly on ingrained ability, or is hard work and some ingrained competency enough?

 

2)can anyone hope to understand complicated concepts or in anyway affect our current understanding of the workings of the world and its constituents without a strong understanding of mathematics?

 

3) I am 18 years old and unlike some of my physics/math buddies, I cannot derive the Shrodinger equation or churn out complicated proofs of x=y. I have completed high-school level work with a good understanding of it ( especially in biology) but that's about it. Does this mean that I will never achieve anything particularly meaningful in my scientific career?

I want to excel in whatever I am involved in and I feel I might be able to given the right guidance, but I feel incredibly small and stupid compared to the other 18 year olds out there who are physics-math people "from birth" and are already beginning to touch at the threads of a universe that, as a future surgeon, I am worried I will never really grasp or add to.

 

Sorry about the unclear layout of my post and "basic-ness" of my question. It's been a hard month.

 

Thank you (:

 

Any field is fine right? I mean it would be sort of some kind of tyranny to say you have to be a physicist or else you are not doing science? I mean there is a lot to say doing ecology that does not cross an internet board all to often, do you read about plant behavior in relation to flood conditions, i do not think this is a common topic. I don't think you can also discover such things just working with equations.

[cameron marical]

if your excelling at biology, but your goals are other, i say, use your best ascets for your biggest goal. your good at biology, ok, well use those to solve problems you have. say you want to be a physicist, wich is a pretty broad topic, well you can study something like colonizing other planets, using the biology skill you have, and some math skills{ wich you probably will need, though you dont need to really know it all by heart, you can just go to someone who excells at math and work on something together}, you can come up with methods and equations to efficiently colonize another planet, therefore expaning the life expectancy of humans drasticly,{ in the long run, race-wise, not lifespan of the average human}, i.e. physics. kind of.

alright, this might sound like alot of useless crap, all im saying is that you can use the already developed skills youve aquired through biology to help out in the interest and goal of physics. just study harder than the other guy to catch up, and you can do whatever you want. dont let anyone tell you you cant do something, when you know you can.

 

p.s.

im with you with the shrodinger stuff, and ive been obessed with physics and mathmatics for quite a while.

[devrimci_kürt]

Just because someone is a brilliant mathematician, that doesn't mean they would make a good biologist.

 

 

 

I concur with your opinion. ...

but,after all,I think mathematics is the language of nature