This is what computers were designed to do, but instead of just doing a numerical simulation, physicists insist on waving their hand and dismissing the error term like it's not even there, so they can keep using nice pretty exact solutions that... don't agree with reality.
I think these people may disagree with you.........
Except that I found this general tendency to dismiss higher order error terms to persist through every year I studied physics at University. I didn't drop out in first year, just so you know.
Simplifying equations is not straight forward, you have to be able to show mathematically that the error term is truly insignificant, but this part seems to be glossed over. Students learn a huge array of simplified equations, and are never really exposed to the original thinking and justification behind them, and often don't even realize they're working with techniques that may not work in corner cases. These same students become researchers and write papers about dark matter.
I think you might be missing the difference between physics taught at an undergraduate level, where the emphasis is on understanding the underlying principles of physics which can be taught with simplified equations and what working physicists actually use (which often rely on solving equations numerically).
Just to defend the obviously not a physicist grandparent, the 12th place ranking for PRL is probably from the impact factors on Web of Science. On the whole the journals ahead of PRL are things like Reviews of Modern Physics and Physics Reports, which are review journals and so tend to be cited more often because lazy scientists, including myself, tend to just cite a single, hopefully comprehensive, review article rather than a bunch of normal papers), and essentially cross-disciplinary journals like Nature Materials or Advanced Materials. Nature Physics is the only comparable journal that appears above PRL in that list.
But as a working physicist I tend to regard PRL as the most prestigious physics journal (and not just because I have paper about to be published there).
I'm not sure they've chosen a builder yet. They were still taking putting together a shortlist of vendors a few months ago and knowing how quickly the wheels of academia turn.
I know one of the panel involved in the planning of HECTOR so I might have to ask next time I see him.....
Can you explain to me WTF a phase diagram has to do with population density? Are you talking about what I have heard referred to as a phase space? Are the two synonymous and I didn't even know it?
A phase diagram is just a way of showing what phases are a system is in for a given set (usually 2) parameters. Commonly in thermodynamics you'll have say a pressure-temperature phase diagram (e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_diagramwikipedi a.
what the GP was meaning (I think) is hat is might be possible to do something similar with population density (And other variables, e.g. average income, eduation level, etc) and government types.For instance certain government types may be associated with high population densities (an Athenian style participative democracy might not be compatible with a high population density, a a dictator ship might not work for a highly educated, but sparse population who knows?).
metric weights and measures for food
The UK started moving to metric measures in 1965 - 6 years before the UK joined the EEC (as it was) http://www.ukma.org.uk/press/timeline.htm.
Stopping border checks
Only in the Schenegen (sic) area - UK and Eire opted out of this and still maintain their own immigration controls.
punishing Britain for BSE but not France where the problem was worse
Einstein is listed at number 7.
His relativity work isn't because that was published in Annals Physik, not Phys Rev (at least the special relativity papers, don't know off the top of my head where the GR work was published, but prob. Ann. Phys. as well)
Slashdot Mirror
This is what computers were designed to do, but instead of just doing a numerical simulation, physicists insist on waving their hand and dismissing the error term like it's not even there, so they can keep using nice pretty exact solutions that... don't agree with reality.
I think these people may disagree with you.........
Except that I found this general tendency to dismiss higher order error terms to persist through every year I studied physics at University. I didn't drop out in first year, just so you know.
Simplifying equations is not straight forward, you have to be able to show mathematically that the error term is truly insignificant, but this part seems to be glossed over. Students learn a huge array of simplified equations, and are never really exposed to the original thinking and justification behind them, and often don't even realize they're working with techniques that may not work in corner cases. These same students become researchers and write papers about dark matter.
I think you might be missing the difference between physics taught at an undergraduate level, where the emphasis is on understanding the underlying principles of physics which can be taught with simplified equations and what working physicists actually use (which often rely on solving equations numerically).
Just to defend the obviously not a physicist grandparent, the 12th place ranking for PRL is probably from the impact factors on Web of Science. On the whole the journals ahead of PRL are things like Reviews of Modern Physics and Physics Reports, which are review journals and so tend to be cited more often because lazy scientists, including myself, tend to just cite a single, hopefully comprehensive, review article rather than a bunch of normal papers), and essentially cross-disciplinary journals like Nature Materials or Advanced Materials. Nature Physics is the only comparable journal that appears above PRL in that list.
But as a working physicist I tend to regard PRL as the most prestigious physics journal (and not just because I have paper about to be published there).
I'm not sure they've chosen a builder yet. They were still taking putting together a shortlist of vendors a few months ago and knowing how quickly the wheels of academia turn.
I know one of the panel involved in the planning of HECTOR so I might have to ask next time I see him.....
Can you explain to me WTF a phase diagram has to do with population density? Are you talking about what I have heard referred to as a phase space? Are the two synonymous and I didn't even know it?
i a.
A phase diagram is just a way of showing what phases are a system is in for a given set (usually 2) parameters. Commonly in thermodynamics you'll have say a pressure-temperature phase diagram (e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_diagramwikiped
what the GP was meaning (I think) is hat is might be possible to do something similar with population density (And other variables, e.g. average income, eduation level, etc) and government types.For instance certain government types may be associated with high population densities (an Athenian style participative democracy might not be compatible with a high population density, a a dictator ship might not work for a highly educated, but sparse population who knows?).
I for one welcome our retirement-postponed Fortran overlords.
You're very welcome.
I trust you left my room as I like it
Not to disagree with everything, but....
metric weights and measures for food
The UK started moving to metric measures in 1965 - 6 years before the UK joined the EEC (as it was) http://www.ukma.org.uk/press/timeline.htm.
Stopping border checks
Only in the Schenegen (sic) area - UK and Eire opted out of this and still maintain their own immigration controls.
punishing Britain for BSE but not France where the problem was worse
any numbers for that? this says otherwise http://www.oie.int/eng/info/en_esbmonde.htm
making a tomato a fruit because Portugal makes tomato jam and jam MUST be made from fruit
I always thought tomatoes were fruit because they had seeds.
What the point in learning a language whose youngest programmers are in the late 40's age range? must have aged 13 years over night then.....
Einstein is listed at number 7. His relativity work isn't because that was published in Annals Physik, not Phys Rev (at least the special relativity papers, don't know off the top of my head where the GR work was published, but prob. Ann. Phys. as well)
you not Derek are you?
Suzy' is NOT correct. pity, always liked saying I've got Suzy on my laptop....
Google for the humongous fungus
I don't think anyone with a fondness for the english language could fail to appreciae that sentence....