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  3. What's one thing your learned at college/university that blew your mind?

What's one thing your learned at college/university that blew your mind?

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  • _ [email protected]
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    wrote last edited by
    #14

    That although there are many wonderful professors, the average professor does not know their ass from a hole in the ground.

    K 1 Reply Last reply
    4
    • sasha@lemmy.blahaj.zoneS [email protected]

      One of the most accurate and successful theories in physics contains the single worst prediction and isn't mathematically rigorous at all.

      Doing calculations with it feels like doing vibes based maths, and you spend a lot of time doing things like: "oops divided by zero guess I'll cancel it out by multiplying by zero" and it works.

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      wrote last edited by
      #15

      Physics in general has not caught up to the fact that locality isn't a thing. Nobel prizes were handed out for this in I think 22... And people still think the notion of spacetime can be taken seriously. It can't.

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      • A [email protected]

        That the diesel engine wasn’t originally ran on diesel fuel. (In college I was led to believe that it was hemp oil). It was actually peanut oil and later they tried hemp oil.

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        wrote last edited by
        #16

        I'm not trying to be a smartass, but wouldn't the name "diesel fuel" be assigned after a certain substance was found to be the optimal fuel for a diesel engine?

        A 1 Reply Last reply
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        • A [email protected]

          For real? A lot of high school subjects were pre requisites for enrolling in my degree here and it'd be quite tough to get through the degree without the foundation laid in those subjects. At the very least they'd have to extend the university course by probably a year or so.

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          wrote last edited by
          #17

          Yeah not seeing how you could go into any form of STEM and lesson 1 is matrix math, but you flunked math 300 and don't know what a quadratic equation is.

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          • _ [email protected]
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            wrote last edited by
            #18

            Bit too busy with the ole undiagnosed adhd and a hankering for world of Warcraft

            N 1 Reply Last reply
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            • K [email protected]

              I'm not trying to be a smartass, but wouldn't the name "diesel fuel" be assigned after a certain substance was found to be the optimal fuel for a diesel engine?

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              wrote last edited by
              #19

              Honestly, good question and I actually don’t know

              K 1 Reply Last reply
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                lumidaub@feddit.orgL This user is from outside of this forum
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                wrote last edited by [email protected]
                #20

                Whether or not an irregular verb retains its irregularity depends largely on how much it is used in everyday life. If it's a common word, it's more likely to stay irregular, because we're frequently reminded of the "correct" form. If it's a rare word, the irregularity tends to disappear over time because we simply forget. That's why "to be" couldn't be more irregular (it's used enough to retain its forms) and the past participle of "to prove" is slowly becoming regular "proved" (it's rare enough to be forgotten).

                yes i like language very much

                Edit: typo

                F W 2 Replies Last reply
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                • sasha@lemmy.blahaj.zoneS [email protected]

                  One of the most accurate and successful theories in physics contains the single worst prediction and isn't mathematically rigorous at all.

                  Doing calculations with it feels like doing vibes based maths, and you spend a lot of time doing things like: "oops divided by zero guess I'll cancel it out by multiplying by zero" and it works.

                  muntedcrocodile@hilariouschaos.comM This user is from outside of this forum
                  muntedcrocodile@hilariouschaos.comM This user is from outside of this forum
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                  wrote last edited by
                  #21

                  In engineering we have a simmillar thing for some cases where we replace 0 with a variable that is 0 at the limit but not 0 itself then continue on like nothing happened. It all cancels out at the end but feels so wrong.

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                  • A [email protected]

                    For real? A lot of high school subjects were pre requisites for enrolling in my degree here and it'd be quite tough to get through the degree without the foundation laid in those subjects. At the very least they'd have to extend the university course by probably a year or so.

                    jordanlund@lemmy.worldJ This user is from outside of this forum
                    jordanlund@lemmy.worldJ This user is from outside of this forum
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                    wrote last edited by
                    #22

                    And the first thing they teach you in college is "High School was bullshit, here's the real way to do it..."

                    A 1 Reply Last reply
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                    • jordanlund@lemmy.worldJ [email protected]

                      And the first thing they teach you in college is "High School was bullshit, here's the real way to do it..."

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                      wrote last edited by
                      #23

                      That's really interesting. It must be very much dependent on where you are because my first class at uni they literally said the opposite. "Everyone who didn't take xyz class in high school take this sheet with a bunch of extra shit you need to learn before next week. Good luck."

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                      • I [email protected]

                        Bit too busy with the ole undiagnosed adhd and a hankering for world of Warcraft

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                        wrote last edited by
                        #24

                        You can tell from my transcript the exact week Elder Scrolls Oblivion came out.

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                          wrote last edited by
                          #25

                          That Earth was in fact way older than 6000 years.

                          _ 1 Reply Last reply
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                          • muntedcrocodile@hilariouschaos.comM [email protected]

                            In engineering we have a simmillar thing for some cases where we replace 0 with a variable that is 0 at the limit but not 0 itself then continue on like nothing happened. It all cancels out at the end but feels so wrong.

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                            wrote last edited by
                            #26

                            Can you give an example?

                            muntedcrocodile@hilariouschaos.comM 1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • D [email protected]

                              My polisci teacher day 1 really hammered in that literally everything is political, that it is unavoidable, and all you do by avoiding politics is giving up your own agency when it comes to the things that you care about. It was 2017, so a lot of political apathy at the time, idk it reallly made it click that every single thing is poltical, based on it or decided by it.

                              Like not caring about politics is just not caring about how you live your life and giving up any control you have to others. People only realize when they lose something they care about like porn games lol

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                              wrote last edited by
                              #27

                              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_personal_is_political

                              D 1 Reply Last reply
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                              • A [email protected]

                                That's really interesting. It must be very much dependent on where you are because my first class at uni they literally said the opposite. "Everyone who didn't take xyz class in high school take this sheet with a bunch of extra shit you need to learn before next week. Good luck."

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                                wrote last edited by
                                #28

                                @jordanlund apparently didn't take xyz class.

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                                1
                                • lumidaub@feddit.orgL [email protected]

                                  Whether or not an irregular verb retains its irregularity depends largely on how much it is used in everyday life. If it's a common word, it's more likely to stay irregular, because we're frequently reminded of the "correct" form. If it's a rare word, the irregularity tends to disappear over time because we simply forget. That's why "to be" couldn't be more irregular (it's used enough to retain its forms) and the past participle of "to prove" is slowly becoming regular "proved" (it's rare enough to be forgotten).

                                  yes i like language very much

                                  Edit: typo

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                                  wrote last edited by
                                  #29

                                  Wait, what's the other option for past tense 'to prove'?

                                  lumidaub@feddit.orgL baduhai@sopuli.xyzB 2 Replies Last reply
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                                    wrote last edited by
                                    #30

                                    We are all pretty much screwed

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                                    • F [email protected]

                                      Wait, what's the other option for past tense 'to prove'?

                                      lumidaub@feddit.orgL This user is from outside of this forum
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                                      wrote last edited by
                                      #31

                                      "I have proven"

                                      F B 2 Replies Last reply
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                                      • G [email protected]

                                        Can you give an example?

                                        muntedcrocodile@hilariouschaos.comM This user is from outside of this forum
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                                        wrote last edited by [email protected]
                                        #32

                                        In control dynamics u have a transfer function and need to determine the Routh-Hurwitz criterion it will sometimes give u division by 0 errors so u sub in a variable and say its almost zero but not quite and continue on like nothing happened.

                                        Eg determining the stability of a system with characteristic eq of A(s) = 3s^4+6s^3+2s^2+4s+5=0

                                        If u do a RH array u will end up with a zero which then will give u (4*0βˆ’30)/0 so u sub in πœ€ for 0 giving (4πœ€βˆ’30)/πœ€ and continue on. That eq obviously evaluates to negative infinity. U are essentially just saying πœ€ is an infinity small positive number ie it is the number next to 0 on the positive side.

                                        EDIT: If the markdown is messed up the eq should be A(s) = 3s**4+6s**3+2s**2+4s+5=0

                                        When using ** as super notation

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                                          wrote last edited by
                                          #33

                                          Shale tastes like mud, yes, but it has the consistency of a chocolate bar if you eat a little.

                                          Honestly not bad. Great experience.

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