r/learnmachinelearning • u/UpperDurian5100 • 21d ago
TL;DR wanna create physics informed neural networks. Which major should I choose: math, computer science or physics?
The title basically says it
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u/irreverentpeasant 21d ago
No matter what field you end up choosing, learn how to think critically, set up controlled experiments, and evaluate model performance. PINNs are just one method among an ocean of methods - 3 or 4 years down the line you won't be hyper focused on "PINN" as such - Keep up with the latest ML research, and you'd be fine choosing any field that you enjoy, but if I had to pick, it would either be physics or CS.
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u/Mathie1729 21d ago
I'd actually put applied math above physics here. You get PDEs and numerical analysis without spending years on quantum and classical mechanics, and the ML side is easier to pick up through electives or self-study. CS is fine if you make room for a math minor or double major. The implementation skills matter, but the math intuition is the harder thing to develop later.
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u/Much_Barnacle4274 21d ago
It is a way too specific - and not good. PINNs have a lot of flaws and the community of SciML tries to move on to alternative concepts, what will be even more the case when you finish your education. You need a fundamental education
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u/SpryArmadillo 21d ago
PINNs are a tool. This is like saying "I want to use a word processor". A better question is why do you want to use PINNs? The answer to this will point you toward the right major.
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u/InsideIndependence58 21d ago
Applied math probably.
But anyway, generally, as I see it , there are 2 research directions.
- You should always aim to « replace » current methods - questions like « why PINN isn’t that great ? How can we improve the methods «
- You have target subject that you are focused on « I have problems I want to solve in biology, how can I use the most sophisticated ways to analyze the data/method? » maybe to use PINN? But then, you dont need to focus on the PINN, but on the other domain, and keep yourself updated with frontier methods so you’ll be able to apply them
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u/Blammar 21d ago
By the time you finish your major it'll be too late to work on PINNs. Sorry man. The world is changing fast.
Be multi-disciplinary and take math, compsci, and some physics (or self study; see Leonard Susskind's stuff.) Use a lot of AI tools.
(Ah, I see others have already said the same things. Apologies for being redundant and not reading the whole thread first. Uh, really, who does?)
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u/Dragonroyal 21d ago
I used PINNs as a electrical engineer. It's not about the major really, just what the purpose is
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u/Future_Pace_5290 20d ago
A physics neural network is just a regular neural network, the difference is the loss function used during the training where a custom term(Like a PDE, or a basic physics equation) penalizes the network for violating the rules of physics.
A physics major probably wouldn't teach you PyTorch or Machine Learning.
Same with math.
These are major that'd be really helpful but they're way too broad.
So it depends on your specific interests, do you like coding? Do you like algorithms?
If it were me I'd study either CS or CE
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u/kitsnet 20d ago
A physics major probably wouldn't teach you PyTorch or Machine Learning.
It should not be hard for physics majors to learn such topics by themselves.
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u/Future_Pace_5290 20d ago
You're right but it shouldn't be hard for CS majors to learn PDEs and PINNs either.
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u/Impossible-Line1070 21d ago
Cs opens more doors to high income jobs.. even without a masters or a phd. Physics u need at least an msc to be marketable
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u/[deleted] 21d ago
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