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Ask HN: Why are physics and math majors omnipresent in diverse research domains?

3 pointsby curious16over 2 years ago
When I search grad student profiles in CS and financial research groups, I often find that there are students who did their undergrads or even masters in mathematics or physics.<p>Although they are in minority among a huge number of CS grads, but that is not the point. I don&#x27;t find that many biology or chemistry majors being everywhere in such an interdisciplinary manner.<p>What makes physics and math graduates so strong to work in wide variety of domains? What is the skillset they possess?

4 comments

anigbrowlover 2 years ago
Mathematics.<p>Eugene Wigner - The unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in the natural sciences <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.maths.ed.ac.uk&#x2F;~v1ranick&#x2F;papers&#x2F;wigner.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.maths.ed.ac.uk&#x2F;~v1ranick&#x2F;papers&#x2F;wigner.pdf</a><p>Social Physics <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arxiv.org&#x2F;pdf&#x2F;2110.01866.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;arxiv.org&#x2F;pdf&#x2F;2110.01866.pdf</a><p>Wir müssen wissen. Wir werden wissen.
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t-3over 2 years ago
I think it&#x27;s more that they need jobs than possessing any special abilities. I get the impression that math and physics are hard to get jobs in specifically, and the low hanging fruit has all been plucked.
yababa_yover 2 years ago
the skillset they possess is mathematics, and mapping symbolic models to real domains (universe, platonic realm)
stop50over 2 years ago
Everything is build ontop physics and math. randal Munroe made a Graphic that shows it perfectly <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;xkcd.com&#x2F;435&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;xkcd.com&#x2F;435&#x2F;</a>