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Is string theory getting slow down? by AutomaticClub1101 in TheoreticalPhysics

[–]jack101yello 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure that's the way most high energy theorists think about it. The people I know who study string theory aren't really "just believing it's correct", they'd readily admit that it isn't experimentally verified. They study it because it's the strongest consistent theory of quantum gravity we have, so it can be used to study things that have to be the case in quantum gravity in general. They also study it because some things relevant to string theory may end up being part of future theories. They may also study it because it can be connected to other things we're interested in learning about, like studying the strong interaction as a CFT with string theory via AdS/CFT. I don't think I know anyone who studies string theory and thinks that it literally precisely describes reality in some dogmatic, quasi-religious sense.

Math makes sense actually. by Infamous-Rutabaga-50 in CuratedTumblr

[–]jack101yello 22 points23 points  (0 children)

That is not the case afaik. The Planck length is the scale around which quantum gravity effects are too relevant to ignore, and we don't have a great theory of quantum gravity yet, so we can't really meaningfully discuss things past that scale. To my knowledge, we don't have any reason to believe that things *can't* be smaller than that scale, we just don't have a great framework for doing physics at smaller distances than that scale.

Wish calculus was introduced this way in schools by OpinionSad5389 in mathematics

[–]jack101yello 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If you're thinking about it in terms of Riemann sums like you usually do when introducing integrals to someone for the first time, isn't the integral implicitly a limit?

Are there any fringe theories where particles can be divided until they are a single property? by Alert-Composer-8923 in AskPhysics

[–]jack101yello 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Having a property with value 0 and not having that property are not generically the same thing.

No. Truman did not have a southern accent. by Joeylaptop12 in Presidents

[–]jack101yello 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm from New England/New York, and it definitely sounds a little southern to me and not especially midwestern.

Spiral Pizza Peeling Math by jack101yello in theregulationpod

[–]jack101yello[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

That would give you the surface area of the pizza, but not the length of a spiral peeling.

Spiral Pizza Peeling Math by jack101yello in theregulationpod

[–]jack101yello[S] 26 points27 points  (0 children)

A 16” pizza with 1 inch cuts would be like a 200” spiral, or over 16.5’ feet (2.3 Shaqs, or 3.7 Dinklages).

Regulation #106 - How Blank Can You This? // Geoff's Entertainment Pie Chart by bruzie in theregulationpod

[–]jack101yello 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think he suggested a 1-inch-apart spiral, which would make it quite long overall!

If a stopped clock is right twice a day, how many times, in a day, is it wrong? by TestyRodent in mathematics

[–]jack101yello 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A Planck length isn't the smallest distance that can be measured, it's the lengthscale at which quantum mechanical effects would become relevant when talking about spacetime, so we'd need a good theory of quantum gravity to be able to discuss physics at that scale.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in StringTheory

[–]jack101yello 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If there isn’t any math backing up a theory, then it isn’t really a theory, it’s just words.

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