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Status: Mathematics (2008-October)
(Text as at 19/11/2008 23:11:02)
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Rationale for this Project
This is rather an eccentric activity, on which I expatiated briefly in the Distractions1 section of my Research Proposal2. It is probably an attempt to exorcise some ancient demon. My excuse was that it’s more useful, if less sociable, than playing chess or bridge, to which I might otherwise be tempted. However, I’ve subsequently been tempted back to bridge. This, together with work at HSBC and on my web-tools3 project means that any further psychological need for technical activities is obviated. Consequently, this project is mostly in abeyance.
Summary of Progress during October 2008
Again no progress. Just another hour reading "Bais (Sander) - Very Special Relativity: An Illustrated Guide". This is worth reading, as a refresher, since an understanding of time is a prerequisite for a full understanding of persistence, which is itself a prerequisite for understanding questions of identity, in particular personal identity. And, naturally, an understanding of relativity theory is essential for a proper understanding of time. If that’s how time works, then philosophers better believe it. Since Special Relativity is (or was) a Cambridge mathematics first-term course, the fact that I’ve still not thoroughly grasped it shows up my mathematical abilities for what they are, sadly. I intend to get to grips with relativity (special and general) as a medium-term project.
An item on the horizon is a Mathematics faculty reunion at King’s in January 2009.
Items Outstanding for Immediate Progression
- Read, and thoroughly internalise, "Bais (Sander) - Very Special Relativity: An Illustrated Guide".
Items for Progression in the Medium Term
- Read "French (A.P.) - Special Relativity".
- Read "Rindler (Wolfgang) - Introduction to Special Relativity".
- Read "Schutz (Bernard) - A First Course in General Relativity".
- Complete the lecture series "Shankar (Ramamurti) - Fundamentals of Physics", in conjunction with the exercises and reading "Wolfson (Richard) & Pasachoff (Jay M.) - Physics with Modern Physics". I need to take the mathematics seriously for the course to be worth following.
- Repeat "Bailyn (Charles) - Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics", this time doing the exercises – without doing these, understanding is at best incomplete.
- Write a brief paper4 summarising the epistemological benefits of elementary mathematics when applied to the raw observational data.
Items for Progression in the Longer Term
- Re-start the first-year course on discrete mathematics from the LSE.
- Read "Misner (Charles W.), Thorne (Kip S.) & Wheeler (John Archibald) - Gravitation".
- Based on success in this endeavour, decide whether to take serious study any further.
Summary of Progress to Date
- I have downloaded a variety of course-material from the websites of various London Colleges, together with stuff from the Oxford and Cambridge websites, focusing on those courses having exercises with worked examples. I’ve also dusted off my old notes, which seem to have been written by someone else.
- As a warm-up exercise, I started a first-year course on discrete mathematics from the LSE.
- Listened to the Open Yale course "Bailyn (Charles) - Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics".
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Status: Summary (2026 - June) |
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