Survey on Astrophysics

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Well, you are nothing short of intelligent ! I would love for you to be my virtual mentor !

Eh, I'm not that intelligent, just focused.

It just winds up when your focus is a field which is viewed as being so difficult, you seem smarter than you are, I've just got an innate knack at manipulating higher dimensional structures in my mind's eye, modeling physical processes from raw formula, and whatnot plus constant practice and study over the last almost 24 years.

Always up to answer questions, and provide interesting directions for research though.

What got you interested in the sciences originally?

How is your mathematical understanding?

I wish now that I had delved into raw mathematics earlier, rather than focusing on the aspects needed for physics (certain types of geometrical concepts, calculus, certain types of probabilistic distributions, etc) almost exclusively.

Well, my interest of science began with taking science as a subject at school. I was obsessed with Geography before that. My interests of science are as following - Astronomy, Physics, Astrophysics, Biology and Forensics.

I am rather average at number mathematics. But, I always get 100% in Algebra. I once read that sufferers of Aspergers are extraordinarily good at noticing complex patterns. So that explains that.

Have you read a Brief History in Time ???

Plant to get real good at mathematics if you want to succeed in physics. No math, no physics.

ruveyn

Indeed, and most of the other recent books attempting to open up physics for more people as well.

More great books: Six Easy Pieces, Six Not So Easy Pieces, Richard Feynman.
The Elegant Universe, Brian Greene
The Trouble With Physics, Lee Smolin

http://www.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/teaching/ ... index.html
http://universe-review.ca/R15-12-QFT.htm
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/070 ... 0646v2.pdf

Theoretical Physics as a challenge.

Check out that list, if you're serious about an interest in virtually any major branch of science, you'll benefit from an early understanding of what you don't know yet, and that list is a pretty damn good guide for early self study.

Also: if you see a term you don't recognize regarding mathematics: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ is FANTASTIC, read, learn, follow links, read more.

If you get totally stumped on something, input it in the wolframalpha box on that page, or this one: http://www.wolframalpha.com/, see how it is solved, try to follow the steps, so forth.


The earlier you get comfortable with math, the happier you'll be as you study science, and incidentally, solving equations is just a part of math, the main thing is to learn the reasoning, processes, structure, and so forth behind the solutions. Rather than just go for the answer and call it done.

If you can solve an equation, then you'll know how to solve an equation... if you can see how the equation is constructed, how it is related to the solution, then you'll know the mathematics behind it.

Actually, I plan to be an astronomer. I realise there is an element of maths involved in Astronomy, and, I am in the Gateway (Extention) class at school for maths. In saying I was average, I ment, I feel I could do better. I only got 80% on a exam on the basic maths operations. So, I feel my mathematical ability is more than adequate for an aspiring 13 year old astronomer !

HelixStein.

Astrophysics and Astronomy are close cousins these days, it's good to bone up on relevant theories and such.

Math in general is never a bad idea, your education in school is woefully lacking, I know, mine was as well. It wasn't until I began to appreciate it for itself, rather than just as a tool to represent difficult concepts/calculate results, that I really started feeling comfortable with it.

The euclidean geometry you learned a few years ago probably, turns into this:



Even this is a result of math, and intimately related to astrophysics
[img][650:374]http://ghostradio.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/dark_matter_millenium_simulation.jpg[/img]

Videos of that simulation in action and better pictures here, enjoy! http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/galform/millennium/

[quote="justMax"]Astrophysics and Astronomy are close cousins these days, it's good to bone up on relevant theories and such.

Math in general is never a bad idea, your education in school is woefully lacking, I know, mine was as well. It wasn't until I began to appreciate it for itself, rather than just as a tool to represent difficult concepts/calculate results, that I really started feeling comfortable with it.

The euclidean geometry you learned a few years ago probably, turns into this:



Even this is a result of math, and intimately related to astrophysics
[img][650:374]http://ghostradio.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/dark_matter_millenium_simulation.jpg[/img]

Videos of that simulation in action and better pictures here, enjoy! http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/galform/millennium/

My education in school is not woefully lacking, well as far as I know....

I have trouble with some aspects - e.g - Social activities, Physed...... But, academically, I am one of the best in my class. In fact, I often abstain saying the answer so that another child can feel the same self esteem burst I feel when I am told I am correct (My mother told me this is an adequate thing to do, any objectors - Say I ! )

How did you woefully fail school justMax ???

Right,So if u experience more than on 3 dimensional slice simultaneously( it think many AS do and that's why they have the knack of manipulating higher dimension structure) u get a model of the universe that shows exactly why assuming dark matter, energy and holes would conform to certain theory and observation but is still a limited view much like the Newtonian laws can still "work" in limited way at higher dimension universe ,
from a certain point of view any dimension is no more than the "sum" of it's lower dimensions:
2D is >1 1D dim located on the the same temporal point (exist simultaneously)
3D is >1 2D dim located on the the same temporal point (exist simultaneously)
and so on...
That's why each dimension have it own infinite and finite states or boundaries that can be "solved" only as a "jump" to higher dimension
Dark matter and energy,black holes, the big bang,the expanding universe paradigm are mere expressions of the limited infinite of our current model or dimension,
If u can grasp,formulate and simulate more than one 3D dim on the same temporal point(quantum theory can for some extent) u get why black holes are just an illusion that fit current theory , math and observation,
but so did the flat earth model at the time /
mind u i don't say it's stupid to consider black holes and dark matter,
we need this structures in order to built a more accurate one
i wonder what does it means to experience more than on 4D dim at the same time since time itself is the fourth dim
perhaps this is where our math collapses and being the proud and stupid creature that we are we assumes it's the universe that collapses rather than our stupidity
no offense
no doubt u r much smarter than i
BTW
the ability to concentrate and focus is great part in what makes people smart
The "experts" dismiss the AS as obsessive but the "one pointedness of the mind" altitudes that separate us from the greater part of society is not just a way to achieve knowledge but the way "knowledge" expresses itself as an ability and a way of life/

Eh, like I said, I'm not really all super wow smart, it's just obsessive dedication to a subject I love, and am well suited for.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention to Helix, rock the Aspie memory, or system making, or pattern finding, or whichever benefits you may have from it, in school. The only thing that would kick more ass than graduating with a PhD in Astrophysics before you're 30, is getting one for free.

Debt sucks.

Yes debt does 'suck' badly!! !

I have a friend who is at Columbia University on 3 scholarships!! ! He got a Bachelors for free. I think his masters and PhD will cost, but not an extraordinary amount. He studies Nanotechnology, and yes, he is an 'aspie'.

justMax, I am curious to see what highly successful aspergers people were like as children. Please tell me all about yourself as a....13 year old.

By the way, who here knows of the pointless Drake Equation??? I am sure I will get a lecture (enjoyable, I am anticipating it already!) on why it is not pointless, but, I fail to see the use for it when the answers are all so vague and inconclusive!

HelixStein. Helix = Helix Nebula - Planetray Nebula, closest nebula to Earth. In Aqaurius constellation. Named Helix as when viewed from side, looks like a coil, and helix is an alternative name for a coil.
Stein = The second syllable of the famous German physicist's surname.

Heh, wanna know why I said I'm not as super intelligent as you think, in some things, maybe... but I have been a real moron at times.

The Drake is interesting btw, but I don't think it considers the possibilities of non-carbon based life properly.

I didn't mean you were failing at school, btw, I meant school is failing you. You're being taught that mathematics is little more than crunching a couple numbers, and solving for x.


So yeah, young Max, my mom taught me young how to learn on my own, so I was given the terrible news upon taking standardized tests in 1st grade that my scores were past high school graduate level.

I know now that a lot of that is my visual processing aptitude basically letting me cheat on multiple choice tests, I overlay the question and answers in my head, the right answer shows up clearly.

If I didn't know something, and couldn't figure it out, picking the answer that didn't look wrong tended to work great.

Got bored by the time I was 11, stopped doing the work due to feeling like I had been lied too (I came to get an education, and they were training me to fill out forms in the disguise of classwork) at 12, went on a pre-anarchistic socratic dumbass binge of moral superiority til I turned 16. I pointed out that they could prosecute my mother for me not being there, or tell me to leave, any other request is at my discretion, as I am a free human being, according to these lists of rights and such they had given me.

Ever heard a kid argue that detention is unlawful imprisonment? After 3 PM, truancy claims on my age group expired, so I was most certainly not going to remain there so they could continue to not educate me any longer.

High School Principal told me I was 16, if I wasn't going to relent, I can leave school of my own free will. Got a G.E.D., etc...


I don't recommend it, I would much rather have burned through school with perfect grades, free scholarships, etc.

Unfortunately, the arguments I heard were all "you're just supposed to do this, it's how things are", and never "you're ruining a huge amount of potential opportunities", which would have been a different matter entirely.


So yeah, working hard to overcome self inflicted hurdles, isn't the same as being successful.

Hell, the only upside of it is being able to say, from firsthand experience of being too smart to see how dumb I was, learn from the mistakes of others whenever you can.

Honestly, if the only things you took away from any of my posts were to actively pursue a deeper mathematical understanding than you're getting in school, and make the most of your time in high school to get the best opportunities you possibly can for college and such, I'd say I did good, and you would be off to a better start than I was.

Real Astronomy requires a mastery of the General Theory of Relativity which is very mathematical. To understand what is going on in a galaxy you need to understand gravitation and that means you have to know General Theory of Relativity.

Only amateurs do descriptive astronomy. Real astronomers have to know the underlying physics stone cold.

ruveyn

Interesting story, well, you seem like a very...idiosyncratic person justMax. Thank you. My education is somewhat more domesticated. I often wish I could go back in time to when I was in 1st grade, keeping my intelligence, but changing appearance. Now that, would be entertaining!! !

I actually have a book on the Special and General theories of relativity ruveyn. In fact, I did a lecture on it last year. I thought that came under Physics' though.

HelixStein

I just read this, and it is a good theory, do you agree with it justMax?

Astrophysics is a branch of physics. It's basically physics applied objects in space, whether ordinary stars, black holes, neutron stars or even nebulae and gas clouds. And yes, to do astronomy professionally, you have to understand the physics.