1 What is the main difference between Physics and Math?
I refer to Math as to a much better known subject in order to compare it with Physics. It’s only natural, because we begin studying Math much earlier in our school years.
There are two major differences which we face when we begin our studies in Physics. First, units or dimension. In Math we deal with numbers and variables in its most abstract form. We rarely think of units. For example, even if we encounter a problem in Geometry in which we are required to calculate a certain area, we rarely supply our answer with the unit of measurement, say $ m^2 $ or $ cm^2 $. It usually starts with the problem itself, where we are given the three sides of a triangle as merely 3, 4 and 5 instead of ‘$ 3 cm, 4 cm and 5 cm$’. So Math is beyond dimensions.
The other major difference is extensive use of vectors. I am not saying we do not use vectors in Math. We do, and so do people devising various tests. However, if we look at percentage of use, for example, it will illustrate my point nicely. So, to put a long story short, in Physics vectors are everywhere.
2 Vectors and scalar
Consider two prehistoric men dwelling in the same cave. One day they go out to look for a mammoth. The mammoth is located exactly to the East from the cave. Imagine one guy goes to the North, and the other one to the East. The guy going north is traveling two time faster than the guy traveling to the East. Which one of them will reach the mammoth first?
Nobody would answer ‘the guy traveling to the North’, despite the fact he is twice faster. In the following video I introduce vectors and scalars
3 How to deal with vectors.
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