All-time bear opening paragraph for a textbook lmao.

    • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I'm way past school, just reminiscing about what a nightmare that course was.

      The irony is I barely passed statistical mechanics, then did an undergrad research project in it :S

      Then I did a PhD in an adjacent field :S :S

      • unperson [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        You might like this book then: https://libgen.is/book/index.php?md5=80870A46C30082AE01E3A6056C09975F

        Blurb:

        In this unusual study, Farjoun and Machover attempt to do nothing less than rebuild two central concepts of political economy: price and profit. Using a probabilistic-statistical approach, they redefine both of these notions and then proceed to a discussion of relations between 'labour value', price and profit. Theories of probability and statistics are, of course, well-established in all natural and population sciences, but with one or two notable exceptions, have been largely overlooked by political economists. By treating the capitalist economy as 'a large and disorderly collection of moving objects', Farjoun and Machover succeed in resolving many of the contradictions that arise between the rigidity of certain analytical schemas and the wealth of empirical observation supporting them.

        Laws of Chaos is a challenging, innovative work, signalling a marked departure form the duality of Marxist and Sraffian approaches.

      • LaughingLion [any, any]
        ·
        2 years ago

        the following pages contain depictions of non-euclidian geometry and unpronouncable ramblings

        • Mardoniush [she/her]
          ·
          2 years ago

          "This is statistical mechanics why are there metric tensors here?!" Actual statement by me in university.

    • captcha [any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      My department chairman, a manager who gives one new insight into and sympathy for disgruntled postal workers?

      :meow-knit: :meow-knit:

      • StalinistApologist [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Check this out. https://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/shivers/autoweapons.html

        made it into a post in /c/guns https://hexbear.net/post/212603

  • Lerios [hy/hym]
    ·
    2 years ago

    if it makes you feel any better thats also the vibe doing a physics degree. i guess this is the essense of STEM solidarity :solidarity: :agony-deep:

  • Llituro [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I'm not bright enough to do statistical mechanics, despite the effort. Combinatorics is generally just sort of beyond me.

  • Mardoniush [she/her]
    ·
    2 years ago

    There's also a textbook I remember reading pointing out the concerning number of Foundational Math/Philosophy of Science scholars who went mad from the knowledge.