please help me feel better about bombing my modern exam i studied hard for 🙏

I'm in a physics 1 (calculus based) class. We are allowed cheat sheets for our exams. Here is the exact policy:

"Students may use review notes (a "cheat-sheet") consisting of one 8.5" by 11" sheet of paper (letter-size) written on one side only during all in-class assessments (exams and quizzes). The "cheat-sheet" may not contain any solved problems or answers to quiz questions from the text. Failure to follow this rule will invalidate the assessment."

My cheat sheet for exam 2 contained step by step guides for solving each type of problem with diagrams using only letters/symbols. I was under the assumption that he would not collect the cheat sheets because he didn't last time.

This time, after the exam, he asked everyone to staple their cheat sheet to the back of their exams. I had no choice but to do this, so now my professor will see that cheat sheet with all of the problem tutorials and derivations. Do you think I will get in trouble for cheating because of the in depth tutorials for solving each type of problem? Should I send him an email right now apologizing for "misunderstanding" the policy?

I'm a PhD student in the UK. I find it hard to measure success in the PhD. So papers is the only measure but obviously it's an incomplete measure.

I genuinely want to learn mathematics, physics, programming, computer science, and AI. I want to build a career in computer science, pursue AI research, and hopefully do a PhD someday. But lately, I've been feeling increasingly demotivated.

The problem is that I rely on AI to learn almost everything. Whenever I have a question, I ask GPT. Whenever I don't understand a concept, I ask AI to explain it. And the more I learn this way, the more I wonder: What's the point of learning anything when AI will always know more than I ever could?

Even the most basic AI models seem to possess more knowledge than I could acquire in a lifetime. And with new models becoming increasingly capable, I keep wondering whether the knowledge I'm working so hard to gain will even matter in the future.

With GPT-6, Claude Opus 5.5, Gemini 4, and other models competing to become more capable, it feels like the gap between human intelligence and AI capabilities will only continue to grow.

I want to understand the mathematics behind AI, learn physics, become a better programmer, and contribute to actual research. But sometimes I question why I'm putting in the effort when AI can explain concepts faster, write code better, and potentially solve problems that I might spend years learning to solve myself.

And even when I genuinely want to learn, I'm confused about what I should prioritize learning and whether any of it will remain valuable by the time I become proficient.

I'm not necessarily saying that learning is useless. I genuinely love the idea of understanding how things work. But I'm struggling to reconcile that curiosity with the feeling that AI might eventually outperform me at almost everything I want to become good at.

For those of you studying computer science, mathematics, physics, or AI, how do you deal with this feeling? How do you stay motivated to learn when AI is advancing so rapidly? Do you think deep technical knowledge will still matter for people pursuing AI research and PhDs, or should we be approaching learning differently now?

I saw this term used in the definition of stationary and static spacetime. I cannot however find a formal definition of what it means to be asymptotically timelike anywhere. Any help?

I'm a junior physics student at my state school. I love doing research but I also have commitments at home that make me very hesitant to leave over the summer halfway across the country. My question is, looking at my current experience, should getting an REU at another institution be at the top of my priorities, or can I prioritize my family?

General list of my research experience:

• Academic year undergrad research fellowship on satellites (not in a lab) freshman year
• Summer undergrad research fellowship following the same topic (following summer)
• summer undergrad research fellowship in the major condensed matter physics lab on campus
• continued unfunded research in that same lab that I plan to do until the end of my degree (I plan to apply for funding for summer 2027)
• undergraduate research assistantship at a non-physics department (1 academic year) about environmental policy. I will be co-author on a paper for this project.
• science communications consultant micro-internship this past summer

Additionally, in the spring I will be assisting a class/being in the learning center.

I hover around a 3.5 gpa and I'm an honors program student. My career goals are to get my masters and my PhD in physics. I am also an artist and I love science communication, so thats another career avenue besides research I want to explore.

What should my priorities by in my last couple years? Should I be dropping everything to get an REU at another institution? Thank you!

When meteorite strikes. What happens to earth time period. Assume impulse is negligible the impact from asteroid.

My teacher says , "Assuming the impulse to be negligible ,There is no external torque on the earth, But mass Increases And moi increases,Since Iw is constant , w decreases and time period increase. "

My friend said " angular momentum is r×mv we take derivative to get dr/dt×mv+r×(vdm/dt+ma) so here the torque from vdm/dt must exist "

My answer ,"Why do you think we can Ignore the initial impulse. The only way this can be possible is when the meteorite is the system as well along with the earth(the question might be asking this ) ,So that the force from meteorite is an internal force And hence no torque , we must consider earth meteorite system here , The angular momentum of the earth - meteorite system Is conserved. But now accounting for moi increases , My verdict would be Since meteorite is now on the surface , The mass distribution shall change and Com is shifted, If earth was previously spinning with axis through com , now it's I=Icom+Md² but axis doesn't change and then moi increases , w decreases increasing time period"

What do you think of this

I want to self-study physics. I have already studied precalculus and calculus. However, I’m not sure how to proceed with the mathematics required for a physics degree.

I’m considering two approaches:

1. Study different math textbooks on seperate subjects (linear algebra, differential equations, tensor analysis...)

2. Study one or two comprehensive textbooks that cover all or most of the math needed for an undergraduate physics degree. I’m considering "Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences" by Boas.

My main goal is not to become highly proficient at solving physics problems, but rather to develop a deep conceptual understanding of physics and gain enough mathematical proficiency to solve basic problems.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

How does a differential work? Why do metronomes synchronize? How can plasma be confined, and what happens to light near a black hole?

Explore interactive experiments from Makarov Physics Suite, Makarov Math Suite and Makarov Astronomy Suite in one journey through mechanisms, electricity, geometry, algorithms and space.

This video shows the software in action: robots and engines, particles and fluids, mathematical surfaces, spacecraft, planets and stars. In the programs, you can change parameters and explore how the results respond.

I really excel at calculus and diffEQ and equations but when I get to calculus it feels like when I see a question I never know where to start or how to do it even though I pay a lot of attention in class my brain just doesn’t seem to click like that. Any tips or advice? I’m a mechE so physics and physics applications is going to be big in my later years so I’d like to really hone on it now!

Hi everyone, for context, I'm a freshman and very interested in quantum computing. It's a mix of engineering and physics, two subjects I enjoy thoroughly. The only problem is the amount of knowledge required for such a niche field. It's what makes me nervous about getting a straight physics degree. However, recently I learned I could double major in EE and a BA in physics. To me, this seems like a great combination of my two interests. But of course I'm worried about the extreme course load of two majors. I like to think of myself as a good student and a decent studier. But I'm aware that both of these require a lot of work, and I'd like to hear either other people's experiences with similar double majors or just general advice about whether this is manageable and/or worth it.

Hello. I am a third-year physics major and, probably to the surprise of a few (or many), have absolutely no programming experience whatsoever. None of the physics or math courses at my university require or involve any programming at all. No Matlab, no Python, no whatever, nothing. All that was required was a CSC 101 course about Python in which my teacher did not teach. I tried to understand, but it was to no avail. Last Summer I tried to get a little Python experience with some tutorials, but I did not get very far as my internship had begun and I haven't picked it up since. Obviously, I am aware of the importance of programming experience for prospects after graduation, which leads me to why I am asking here: what resources/strategies should I use in order to teach myself the programming necessary for postgraduate physics endeavors?

I am an AI master student , currently working in an AI startup. I love maths and physics and it was my passion my whole life pretty much. I always wanted to go for math or physics higher degree but rn it seem pretty absolute to me. And yes , I am not saying this because of some AI hype , i work very closely with AI and have trained SLMS by myself.

Progress of Language models in verifiable tasks is crazy , recently they solved Navier stokes (Ik there's controversy who solved it) but i still believe the attempt is crazy , I remember , how just a year ago these models were doing mistake in my assignments and now i don't see single mistake. I have heard that even Quant firms heavily using LLMS for there math researches and openAi also solved another small 300 unsolved math problems. It looks like progress is really fast and kind of exponential. Even though these models won't beat top 10 mathematicians they already beat majority people out there.

I want to know you guys suggestion , what you think about the future of Math and physics, is it worth it to go into , i mean anything STEM pretty much requires math and if models can think of math better than humans than what will humans study , to me math was language of universe and seems like models understand it better than humans. I was seeing this podcast with terence tao and he was agreeing that models very close surpassing human mathematicians and how human brain never evolved to understand math instead it was evolved for language and visuals.

I want to know what you guys think , what future will look like as humanity because it seems almost purposeless world to me where machine understand math better than humans.

Hello everyone, I’m currently studying physics and astronomy at the university of Oslo. I have class in mechanics, and I have found it very difficult to remember all the formulas and equations for the different situasjons. When I first read problems, I get very stressed out that I totally forget everything, and I heard from a student that have finished this class that deriving the equations is the best way to solve problems.

My question is:
What is the process for deriving an equation? Any advice on how I can train my self to always do that?
Also, as I mentioned before, I get really stressed out when reading physics problems, and I know that through doing multiple, multiple problems I will learn to cope better. However, I’d love to hear some of your experiences around this, how did you manage to cope with it?

Sorry for such a long text, and thanks in advance🙏🏼

Hi, I currently study Maths, Physics and Sociology at A-level (UK end of school exams), and am having a hard time deciding what I’d like to do in uni. I love have always had a passion for astrophysics, but I LOVE pure maths and mechanics.

Originally, I was going to do physics with astrophysics, but I am worried it won’t leave me much room in case I change my mind and want to pursue a slightly different career. I’m also concerned that it won’t have enough pure math/mechanics modules that I’d really enjoy.

I’ve been debating on doing applied math with physics instead, but I’m not a huge fan of stats. I don’t mind it, but I know applied math would involve significantly more stats than other degrees. I’ve also considered engineering, physics (by itself), maths (by itself) and aerospace.

Could anyone in the physics/maths field offer some insight? Whether you study, or have studied, the courses I’ve mentioned or something else—any advice is much appreciated!

What are your thoughts on this recent preprint, 2610.16733? They showed how Frontier AI agents tackled or solved 49 of 50 unpublished research-level theoretical physics problems, and suggest such problems might no longer be suitable as first projects for PhD students.

I'm especially curious how this will overall affect prospective grad students and early-career researchers in theoretical physics.

Recalling Dr. Schwartz (u/VibePhysics) saying in his Anthropic post Vibe Physics:

It is worth it, however, to consider the role of education going forward. In the deep future (~10 years), when AI is truly smarter than all of us and capable of outperforming us in every domain, what will be the role of higher education? I think some things will persist—those things that are essentially human. I can easily imagine theoretical physics becoming like music theory or French literature: an academic discipline appealing to people who just enjoy thinking through a certain lens. It's a bit ironic that the last 30 years have seen the growth of STEM fields, displacing the humanities, and in the end it may be the humanities are all that survive.

Do you agree with him? And what concerns or hopes do you have about where our fields in theoretical physics are heading?

generally im just interested in aviation as well and i thought like well, its expensive but tell me someone that doesnt like aircraft and how they work

This is my first semester as a physics major, taking my first ever physics class - as a junior in college. That being said, physics is unlike any course I’ve taken before. We go through hefty derivations every class, but the emphasis always seems to lie within understanding the overarching concept. It’s just a Physics 1 mechanics course, but I LOVE IT. The problem solving is literally fun, and I sound so nerdy saying it, but I love working out tough problems. For those of you out there that have felt this feeling before - does it subside eventually? Im so excited for E&M and advanced labs. I feel like a little kid.

can anyone suggest a good book for both the subjects to strengthen concepts and for practice

Im a master student and I faced a terrible teacher for my GR course, I want to study it by myself, forgetting about the exam atm. I started reading the S. Carroll but I'm not satisfied about the mathematical background he gives, I would like notes/little book concerning exclusively the tools necessary to approach general relativity. can someone help me? thank you.

Hey yall. I recently just transferred to Berkeley for physics. Taking the recommended series of Quantum Mech & EM, I’m realizing how incredibly behind I am mathematically and its stunting my conceptual physics growth. I literally will look at problems for hours and not know how to go about it. I don’t want to resort to AI to help me learn the approach but I seriously just get so stunted because I can’t see a path through problems. This issue is something thats severely affecting my midterms and worries me.

Does anyone have any advice on how to get out of this? Do you just need to grind out the math when you can? Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Well, i´m currently studying physics and as the tittle says I´m in 4th. I´m probably a bad student, right now Im starting to forget my course of physics II(electromagnetism) and I´m struggling with vectorial calculus. I look to have good grades and being a good physicist, remember all the things that I have learned and being able to do much. But I´m a failure in that task, so I wanna read some advice or if someone have a similar situation.

because im very desperate to know if everything is made of atoms or not and i cant assume things arent made of atoms or that they are made of atoms because its ilogical and im very annoyed because if it has already been proven why people dont prove it quickly and im not a troll it sjust something its happening to me which i dont understand

How would you construct a good physics exam and what type of questions do you think are important to ask? Specifically thoughts on practice/application problems vs asking students to repeat a derivation. Traditionally I’ve seen professors who prefer testing with practice problems with applications and examples. I’ve also had professors who are weigh heavily on derivations and prefer asking students to derive formulas/equations on an exam and will weigh more on that. I want to know what value you see in both approaches and why you think either one is important and what your preferences are.