When I decided to start writing this blog, one of the goals
I set was to try and communicate my understanding of various topics ranging
from games and music to science and technology in a manner that anyone could
understand.
In my previous career
working in Information Technology, I frequently had to explain technical issues
to people who lacked a technical background.
When I returned to college a few years ago to study Physics, I again
found myself trying to explain various mathematics-intensive scientific topics
to individuals who did not have much of a background in mathematics.
While explaining a select bit of particle
physics to my wife, I decided that it would be worthwhile to try and create
written explanations of scientific topics that did not rely on mathematics to
define the processes.
After all, in
vocabulary and grammar classes as children, we’re taught that you shouldn’t use
a word to define itself.
And since
mathematical explanations of a physical system are a form of defining the
system using a circular definition, a solely mathematical explanation is
against the rules.
-5, recursive
definition.
Thus the idea for The Lecture Hall was born. Originally I wanted to attempt to describe
all aspects of Physics without using any mathematics or – at worst – minimal
mathematical concepts only where it was necessary. After thinking for some time on exactly how I
might go about achieving this goal, I decided that it might be beyond my
skills, so I revised my plans a bit. The
new plan calls for a series of discussions on various topics within the realm
of Physics with a bare minimum of mathematical explanations that will serve to
inform people on what the topics of discussion are, show how the topics relate
to other topics, give some understandable and observable examples of the topics,
and set the framework for a more advanced understanding of these and related
topics to be discussed at a later point in time.
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| Welcome to the Lecture Hall |
