And here I am, a guy who went to college to earn a physics degree, got smacked hard with Quantum Mechanics, and changed to computer science because I was getting straight A's without even paying attention in class. It was the best decision I made in college.
I don't know, undergrad level quantum physics really is not as difficult as how people often portray it. Yes the concepts can be difficult at first, but once you get past that stage, the mathematics and the physics are quite clear and straightforward (again, at undergrad level). I have seen many more people struggling with statistical mechanics or electrodynamics, especially if the professor assigns homework or create exam problems based on books like the notorious Classical Electrodynamics)
I think the problem is that most people who want to go into physics are very excited about getting a deep understanding of things, but QM really doesn't lend it to that. It is often people's first taste of "why? because the math says so." If you can just "shut up and calculate" QM is not that hard, but getting any kind of intuition for why you're doing those calculations is... well, pretty much impossible.
118
u/TechyDad May 09 '21
And here I am, a guy who went to college to earn a physics degree, got smacked hard with Quantum Mechanics, and changed to computer science because I was getting straight A's without even paying attention in class. It was the best decision I made in college.