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Mathematical
Services. 2026-03-17 07:22:09 - Paul D. Foy - SpecialRelativity Recently I have been using AI (Google and chatGPT) to get into special relativity - Einstein's postulates of 1905. I don't think I've ever looked at it before or attended a course on it at Cambridge. You can start enquiring and developing knowledge about anyrhing with AI - you don't need to buy a book, attend a lecture, it's just there to access. It's basically a consequence of some postulates which are mathematically enshrined in the Lorentz transformations which relate space and time in two coordinate frames. That is time is not constant it depends on position and the velocity of the moving frame. And the consequences are the the speed of light is constant to all observers (independant of which reference frame they are in), and that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. Discovering the consequences of the postulates requires not much more than the skills developped in A-level maths with some flair at algebraic manipulation. I was a bit rusty (on integrals, chain rule etc) on things but I got going and did some of the derivations for myself. Like being a student again! And I could spot some of the mistakes the AI LLM occasionally made as well so we worked together (as a team :) ). So we see the value in a mathematical education and background. Whether this background will be needed by the vast majority of people in 10 years times - I wonder. I suspect mathematics will always be needed. You'll always need to know how many hands a horse is high always - to count - integers. Many of the derivations of special relativity are just algebraic manipulation. I've also been thinking on why a tradesman would need to know about special relativity - I can't think of a direct reason at the moment, as it only makes a practical difference when at extremely high speeds. But the historian needs to know, because it's used in space, satellites where differences of position and time are critical, by NASA and satelltit launch. So the historin buying my booklets and the elevation contours maps made fron writing software to interact with NASA's elevation data is probably indirectly using speial relativity. I suppose a tradesman must be grateful for the satellite coverage and internet facilitation that makes mobile communication possible and smart phones (he seems to have taken that on board - the mirror!! :). I'll think on this theme, an app usign special relativity for the tradesman. Special relativity for the people. This is a rambling post. 2026-03-17 07:44:24 - Paul D. Foy - I don't think AI will replace the human having the idea, or suggesting a course of action. Why did Einstein think that the speed of light is constant in all reference frames or that the Lorentz transformations mapped the natural world. What insight (or foresight) did he have? Or was he just playing games of algebraic manipulation for his own pleasure?. Post a comment: |