Mathematical nightmare!

Quantum mechanics – the answer to the question “when am I ever going to need to do integration again?”

I remember, just over 30 years ago, leaving my A-level maths exam and thinking that I’d never need integration again. And until now, I’ve been right thinking I didn’t!

My bachelor degree was maths based, though it was of a deeper though more abstract nature. A focus on the maths behind computers: Turing machines, lambda-calculus, algorithms (big O-notation), NP- completeness etc. At one point I could even prove 1+1=2 (over several pages of maths).

Then I joined the real world…programming, architecture, project and then programme management, innovation management, and now opportunity risks and engagement recovery. Never once needing to ever think of differential calculus and chain/substitution rules of calculus.

Even when doing my PhD I used some funky algebra thinking including meta-algebras to manipulate other algebraic constructs.

But this first week of quantum learning has been a nightmare!

I’m aware of my physics friends who had fun with calculus during university and presumably still did so early in their careers.

Which likely explains the courses (and quite often books/lierature used) approach of “you’ll remember this” or “hint: integrals needed can be found by taking repeated differentials of the constant term inside of the exponential”.

Honestly, I once tried learning Finnish, a language I realise – with its 15 different cases – is still much clearer to me than physicists discussing calculus!

But, there’s no alternative than to fire up Google and crash learn calculus (on top of the necessary linear algebra, and new mathematical notation to understand quantum mechanics such as kets and bras…

All this whilst working full time – what was I thinking?,