Understanding physics with no math background

A year or so back, someone asked a question on a public forum about how to learn quantum mechanics when coming from a non-technical background. She felt that a lot of the texts out there weren’t very credible and that the rigorous texts were often too dense to get through.

I wrote a comment giving my two cents about how the layman should learn physics, mathematics, or other similarly technical fields. It got a very positive response so I have lightly edited it here and added another tip to round things off.

I’m so interested in quantum physics but it’s such a struggle for me to find credible sources on it! A lot of the people who discuss it from a spiritual standpoint feel a little bit dishonest to me, like they’re stretching scientific findings to make conclusions that actual quantum physicists would never make. Do you recommend any books/speakers on this topic who you trust?

I can’t really speak to the spiritual side of things - but as a mathematician interested in science communication, I do have a lot of thoughts on public understanding of abstract things from physics and math.

TL;DR for physics: Look into Feynmann’s public-facing works.

Knowing the mathematics, I know that if you have a strong understanding of the math you can truly understand these non-intuitive phenomena and theories. Mathematics is an objective language that was created to discuss scientific phenomena. We needed an objective language because human intuition doesn’t always map onto the science well. So, one option is to try to delve deep into the physics/math. But honestly, if you don’t already know a lot mathematics or physics, that seems like too much work to ask of you.

SO, what can be done in that case? Well, I’m not convinced that you can’t have a meaningful understanding of quantum mechanics, relativity, or all these other physics things without knowing the mathematics. Although I have not come across any writing by someone without these qualifications that gave a fully correct summarization. Even experts in related fields get these things wrong… Michio Kaku’s latest book on quantum computing is riddled with basic errors… In sum, my general advice is this:

5 Step guide to understanding technical things (math/physics/etc) for the layman

1. Make sure the authors behind whatever source you’re learning from have the requisite technical background.

As mentioned before, even the best science communicators will get a number of details, and even often general themes, wrong. These areas are difficult! Similarly, even scientists or academics in adjacent fields can overestimate their understanding of a given field. Try your best to find a writer with a relevant background in the field.

For physics, I would start by watching/reading Feynmann’s public facing works. He was a great science communicator and had an intuition for the physics better than literally everyone in the world in his time.

2. While learning, ask yourself “What would it mean if this is not true?” and “What does this mean in a physical way?”

Due to great abstraction, you’ll find no shortage of metaphor in reading about physics. Waves, particles, fields… all of these are in a sense abstractions. Wave-particle duality and all that. What could “Time moves at different speeds in different reference frames.” even mean? A speed is relative to time, so… are there different times moving different relative to other times? Is there an example showing what this means in terms of something I, myself, could observe and what would it be like if the universe didn’t work like that?

This lecture gives a great intuitive discussion of what we mean by “wave-particle duality.” If I were to reframe its central point in a few sentences. I’d say, calling the quantum phenomena “wave-particle duality” is kind of like calling a cylinder a type of “cube-sphere duality.” Thinking of a cylinder as some cube-sphere hybrid is a little odd, even if it makes some sense. Really, it is its own thing different from a cube or a sphere. Though cylinders are hard to picture if you have only grown up with cubes and spheres.

3. If you can, ask your local nerd. Be humble, and don’t worry about getting details wrong.

I have a confession to make: I’m a nerd. I’m also a nerd who knows lots of other nerds and I can confidently say we love spinning yarns about this shit. See the above writing…

4. It is ok if you don’t get it the first time, or the second, or the third, or the fo…

The dirty little secret is that oftentimes the experts don’t get a lot of it too. There are many many things that I’ve seen many many times that I don’t fully get. I feel like I’m just starting to get probability theory. And either way, declaring to yourself that you fully understand something is really a bit somber. You’ve sealed yourself off from further exploration and decided that you have had enough. I respect those who say “I don’t understand this” after a lot of experience with something much more than those who confidently say they do understand it.

5. Continue to be open and curious even when it seems daunting or you feel out of your depth.

Truthfully, I think every field’s details contain nuance that can seem impassable - just in physics (or mathematics etc), that wall is more visible. It is easier to tell that there is a lot you might not be getting. I’d say, explore anyway. Explore broadly.