I took Physics as an elective in University, but it really didn’t sharpen my Calculus skills. Which is sad, but probably because I did so bad in Calculus as an undergraduate. But, one thing I absolutely did take away from Physics was the idea of units and their conversions. It has come in handy so often though in and outside my degree of computer science. If I had to simplify it, it really helps you not to compare apples to oranges. At the beginning of Street Fighting Mathematics it brings up that point. For example it isn’t a good comparison to compare the wealth in assets of a given company to a countries GDP. Because, GDP is happening over every year in time whereas the wealth is merely effected by what point in time it’s observed. Units help one see that in order to be truly and more fairly comparable they have to be the same type of units.
I used an analogy of units in physics recently to help a teammate with types and generics, sadly I can’t remember exactly what I said haha other than don’t compare apples to oranges, but I think I had further insight than just that.
Absolutely! internalizing dimensional analysis has been one of the most useful things I learned in grad school -- even though converting units was something many of us learn, in one form or another, before college.
It is interesting how some of the things just feel like common knowledge when they are not.
I frequently see people comparing things that aren't really comparable and it always seems to me it should be obvious this can't be done.
Most common example is mixing watts and watt*hours. Which should be pretty obvious. Nobody mixes by accident the speed at which you travel with the distance you have to travel. Nobody says "My car can pull off 200kms" or "I have 120km/h to cover" yet the same happens for energy vs power on a daily basis, even in publications.
I used an analogy of units in physics recently to help a teammate with types and generics, sadly I can’t remember exactly what I said haha other than don’t compare apples to oranges, but I think I had further insight than just that.