Again, not sure who claimed that Einstein was "lousy" at math.
I dont believe that Logic & math are inseparable. I think that one can have logic without math but not math without logic. At the end of the day everything gets translated to thoughts and understanding. Math serves as a more precise language to help us understand things that are difficult to explain using words. But sometimes words are more easily translated into thoughts than math, I feel this is probably true for most people. To dismiss logic is in my opinion worse than dismissing math.
I believe that on some level people have a vague understanding of how things work. To get into a more granular understanding of how things work math is needed ... however one can have an understanding of the general idea of how something works ... even complex stuff without "doing" the math. I dont think I ever stated that it is not useful to understand the concepts. I just feel that it is not always necessary to do the math.
Just as you state here that Newton needed to invent calculus but einstein didnt ... if one agrees with current mainstream math ... or even if they trust / assume it to be right AND they understand the general concepts then why do we need to "do the maths". If the logic is sound and based on mainstream math is it needed to work through/ learn all of the complex calculations? Doesn't it suffice to say ... I know that 1+1 = 2 without having to do the proof of why 1+1 = 2? Now it one is claiming an exact number then the math is required, but if one is stating a change in the logic of a problem ... why is it necessary to "DO" the math.
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Originally Posted by Tim Thompson
Not by a long shot. The popular myth of Einstein being somehow lousy at math is just that, a popular myth. He was in fact quite good at it. It was Einstein who was the driving force behind the mathematical development of GR, going to Grossman and others for help when he knew he needed new tools to develop the necessary math. Newton solved the problem by inventing calculus for himself. Einstein did not need to do that, he only needed to find the right tool already in the hands of mathematicians.
Logic & math are inseparable, at least in the context of the natural sciences. Math is the natural language of logic, so in order to understand the logic at any level beyond the most rudimentary, you must do the math.
For the most part, this too is a popular myth. You may think you "understand" an idea without the "complicated math" (which is often not really all that complicated, ust specialized). But in reality there are always key points left out or skipped over because the math, complicated or not, is still missing. This is something I have come to learn from years of trying to design talks and articles explaining those very ideas to totally non mathematical audiences. I have become quite skeptical & critical of almost all of the popular explanations I see because they are so over simplified that they just get it wrong, or get it so misleading as to make it essentially wrong.
if you can't or don't do the mathematics then you have literally no hope at all of ever really understanding general relativity, or really any other aspect of modern physics, beyond the legendary "cave man" level.
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