Study: Even Physicists Hate Complex Math

Was mathematics one of your least favorite subjects in school?

If so, you're not alone. According to one study, even some of the best and brightest physicists don't like it.

According to the New Journal of Physics, physicists are less likely to focus on theories based in advanced mathematical details.

The study focuses on two thousand papers published in one of the top physics journals. The researchers counted up the citations of past studies in each paper. They found studies with a lot of hard equations were less likely to be referenced in new papers. Sounds like the physicists didn't want to deal with a lot of complex formulas and numbers.

This doesn't mean the physicists just weren't smart enough to figure out the math.

The research says the issue may be more about communication, and suggest that physicists find better ways to communicate complex arithmetic.

Communicating your ideas in a manner that's understandable for everyone works. Makes sense.