On Physics and Philosophy

[Anville Azote]

On 10/11/06, David Casseres <david.casseres at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The counterexample to that would be Richard Feynman's popular lectures
> on quantum electrodynamics.  One set has been made into a book called
> QED, which I recommend very highly.  Another set the Douglas Robb
> Memorial Lectures, with deeper content, is available as video streams
> at http://www.vega.org.uk/video/subseries/8 .
>

But in the book "QED:  The Strange Theory of Light and Matter",
Feynman does teach mathematics!  He disguises it by talking about
"adding arrows", but he's really teaching the arithmetic of complex
numbers.  That is one reason why the book is so good:  Feynman doesn't
shirk from the necessary tasks, he just performs them with elegance.

Of course, as he readily admits, the math you get in that book won't
actually let you solve the sort of problems grad students get as
homework.  That's why they have to go to school for so long: not to
learn the concepts, but to perfect the techniques which make solving
problems a practical possibility.  To give the ideas teeth, as it
were.

-A. A.