undergrad physics stdyblr

undergraduate ('19) studying physics, astronomy, and math

[snootyfoxfashion]

Handmade Ceramic Zodiac Constellation Mugs by KilnWitch

Aquarius / Pisces / Aries / Taurus  Gemini / Cancer / Leo / Virgo Libra / Scorpio / Sagittarius / Capricorn

[tyler-studies]

Women in STEM

🌻✨Reblog if you’re a woman in STEM so I can follow you !!✨🌻

[lthmath]

~ 8 incredible and courageous women whose work forever changed mathematics and the world ~

A couple of you have asked for a printable version of these, so if you are interested in printing these as posters for your class send us an email to [email protected] so we can send you a pdf (easy for print).

[cosmo-studies]

It’s almost May :0

I can’t believe May starts this week. The time has flown by. Here are a couple of excerpts from my bujo. I started adding a highlights section at the beginning of the spread for the month to keep track of nice things that happen-- it ranges from things as simple as having dinner with a friend to doing well in a class or going to some cool event. 

I’m thinking about adding butterflies and flowers to the May page as markers of something, but I'm not sure what...leave a note if you have any good ideas to share :)

[cosmo-studies]

Current Study Motivation: Albert Einstein

In my last post about general relativity, I talked a little bit about Einstein. Even though it is only speculated that he was dyslexic, I would really like to believe it. There aren’t many dyslexic theoretical physicists (at least those that know it themselves + make it openly known) out there (now and throughout history), and it is encouraging to think that Einstein was able to do everything he was with a dyslexic brain. As I work my way through general relativity, it is encouraging to think that a dyslexic has invented/learned this before :)

Some relatable dyslexic qualities: 

Strengths:

visual imagination and spatial reasoning

nonverbal thought process

Weaknesses:

early speech suggested difficulties with word retrieval

difficulty with arithmetic and foreign language in school

In quotes:

“Words or language, as they are written or spoken, do not seem to play any role in my mechanism of thought”

“Thoughts did not come in any verbal formulation. I very rarely think in words at all. A thought comes, and I may try to express it in words afterwards."

[Quotes and lists from https://www.dyslexia.com/famous/albert-einstein/]

[cosmo-studies]

general relativity for dyslexics

As I pound away at my general relativity homework, I’ve been taking notice of strengths and weaknesses of dyslexia when learning general relativity:

1) indices: If Einstein was really dyslexic, I am extra impressed by his ability to formulate general relativity in the language of differential geometry. You know the common stereotype that dyslexics reverse things (write things backwards, reverse their b’s and d’s, etc)? Well, that gets way worse when dealing with a plethora of indices located in contra- and co- variant positions and constantly being raised and lowered. I am actually pretty decent at tensor manipulations and understanding tensors, however, I have a common problem of copying things incorrectly. I have had this problem (which is quite common among dyslexics) in all of my work, for example, obtaining a result from one step of a calculation, plugging the number back in later in the problem, but writing the wrong number (even though I calculated the correct number earlier!). Now with indices, it frequently happens that I manipulate indices to find some tensor, then plug the tensor into the next step and COPY THE INDICES COMPLETELY WRONG. That’s right; the b’s will go where the d’s are supposed to, and the a will be contravariant when it’s supposed to be covariant. :( It can be very frustrating when I spend a lot of time on a problem and can’t get the right result, only to have a friend point out that I did all the right steps, but ‘why did I switch the indices between the two steps?’ (*bangs head against desk*)

2) word problems vs ‘math problems’: when I turned in my first exam, my professor said the next one shouldn’t be as bad, because it would be more ‘physics’ problems than ‘math’ problems. Something I’ve noticed is that ‘physics’ problems tend to be more word-y, and I get more confused. I think I spent some 4+ hours on a problem, struggling, only to realize I had COMPLETELY MISINTERPRETED the geometry and a large portion of the problem statement. I think that math problems have often been better for me because of the clarity in the problem statement, which is often more straightforward and described by symbols that have specific meanings. When I have to sort out what someone is trying to get across in a problem statement before attempting the problem, it is more difficult and leaves more room for incorrect interpretation, often leading to struggling and frustration.

3) visualizing: that being said, problems that I am able to understand and actually visualize, come more naturally to me. I think a strength for dyslexics in general relativity is the ability to visually interpret mathematics and have intuition about physical situations (even if these visualizations are difficult to put into words :) 

In conclusion, general relativity is an already difficult subject, but presents extra challenges to a dyslexic brain. On the other hand, it took the creativity and visual-spatial skills of a dyslexic brain to formulate general relativity. So there are definitely two sides to the coin!

If anyone else out there is struggling with dyslexia and general relativity, or math/physics and dyslexia in general, please reach out and let me know how you deal with either and if you have had similar problems as described here :)

[nasa-official]

Me in the early evening: *studiously doing homework, listening to instrumental music, very focused*

Me two hours later: *upside down in my desk chair* do you think stars have feelings

[keiraknightleyperiodpiece]

[cosmo-studies]

I’m glad someone else thinks this

[pharmstudies]

small habits to adopt

wake up early

drink a glass of water as soon as you wake up

meditate or concentrate on your breathing for at least 2 mins

visualize your goals for the day and for the future

make your bed 

do calf raises or squats while brushing your teeth

floss

dry brush

take a cold shower (or end a hot shower with cold water right after for about 3 mins)

put on lotion while your skin is still damp

cleanse, tone, and moisturize your face

apply sunscreen

drink a glass of water before and after every meal

listen to a podcast/ted talk instead of music while walking or driving

park far away from where you’re going

stand up straight

look at people in the eye when talking to them

look straight ahead when walking, not at the ground

smile at strangers

stop complaining (it’s bad for your health)

bring cash instead of credit card

track your expenses

turn off notifications on your phone when doing work

resist the urge to go on your phone and observe your surroundings more

set a timer for 5 mins when scrolling through social media and stop when the time is up

learn at least 5 new vocab words from your target language every day

exercise while watching shows/videos

read at least 10 pages every day

do tasks that can be done in 2 mins right away

drink tea

prepare workout gear the night before

jot down tasks for the next day before sleeping

write down quotes/lyrics that strike a chord

spend 30 mins on a hobby

journal and write down things you are grateful for

aim for 7-8 hours of sleep

[quantum-questions]

The entire universe in one image

Created by Pablo Carlos Budassi 

Made from logarithmic maps of the universe. Each ring represents a view that is an order of magnitude larger than the one before it. This lets the whole universe from the solar system to the microwave background radiation left over from the big bang fit into the circle.

[cosmo-studies]

midterms

Midterm season is upon us :0

I have two exams tomorrow, but after that it’s spring break! Then I’ll be able to do homework from the comfort of my own home with my own food and coffee :D

These are the cork boards across from my bed. I used these for notes/reminders, etc., but now they are just decoration boards. 

[studysophical]

Hi everyone, it’s finally happening: I will be making an entire series of posts that will be entirely dedicated to studying and studying effectively. So, to start off with, here are some actual working tips on how to make sure that what you read out of your textbook will stick with you!

For every paragraph/section that you read, formulate a question to which what you read will be the answer

Use flashcards by writing your previously formulated question on one side, and a shortened, summarised version of the answer (so the text that you just read) on the other

Highlight important terms, explanations of terms, and key sentences in you textbook; but don’t overdo it, because that may lead to you only reading the highlighted parts of the text, and not the other parts that may be equally important as well

Find patterns within different sections: could the two be combined and/or related to each other, and if so, how?

Use sticky notes to write down important processes, use them as tabs or provide your texts of further information provided by your teachers/professors (or yourself) that might be relevant

Make a mindmap for every chapter that you read: start off with one guiding principle and then work out the rest of your chapter’s sections around your guiding principle in your own words; this will help you visualise what you just read

Interpret what you read an develop your own opnion on the material (especially in the social sciences) so that you can understand the texts you’re studying from your own perspective

Discuss your interpretations and opinions with your teacher/professor; not only does it show to them you studies the material well, but it also helps you to see things from yet another perspective (in this case it would be your teacher’s) and therefore be beneficial to what you’re studying

Take your time to read; if you’re like me and you find textbooks to often state the obvious or not seem as very in-depth, you might still want to read it carefully and take your time on reading, asking yourself the following questions: what did I just read? and how does it relate to what I’m studying?

Hopefully this could help a lot of people out. If you still want to ask me questions about this post or just anything else, feel free to do so!

[mimicdog]

“don’t be shy” thanks u cured me

[cosmo-studies]

Tru

[femmenietzsche]

Ways I Am Like the Standard Model

Clearly flawed, but with no obvious path to improvement

Can go from a top to a bottom under the right circumstances

I too have a problem with hierarchy

Influenced by Richard Feynman

Too weird to be widely understood

If you froze my body and shattered it down the middle that would arguably be symmetry breaking

Lots of self-coupling

Many of my interactions are weak

Incompatible with gravity (I fell out of bed the other day)

Will break down under extreme conditions

All of my friends describe me as a gauge quantum field theory containing the internal symmetries of the unitary product group SU(3) × SU(2) × U(1)

[world-of-astrophysics]

Same. Just…..just same

[cosmo-studies]

same tho

[captainnaustralia]

[to-work-or-not-to-work]

THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING I HAVE EVER READ.

[theocseason4]

[cosmo-studies]

going strong

Now entering the second week of the semester! I’ve been very proactive so far, especially with regards to contacting people. Sometimes I’m very bad at getting errands done and sending out emails, but I’ve made a point to improve communication and errand completion this semester. Can’t believe how many things I was actually able to check off my to-do list today :)

Happy studies!