Do you forget basic math or physics/chemistry formulas?
Recently after doing nothing but surfing Internet for 3 weeks I forgot how to solve fractions :o But after just glancing for a few seconds at my old math books, knowledge came back.Kind of embarassing anyway.
This sort of question is more fitting for IMHO, since it doesn’t have a factual answer.
But yes, I forget math formulas when I don’t use them regularly. When I’m out of school operations like completing the square slip out of my head until my next semester of math (though as you said, they’re easily remembered once you have a book in front of you).
Don’t worry about it. Do dimensional analysis – this will help you in what parts are in the equation. Or derive it on the spot. This is the test solution.
The real solution is grab the rubber bible (CRC handbook of chemistry and physics) and your dog-eared Halliday and Resnick.
The GQ forum is for questions with factual answers. Polls and surveys and the like go in IMHO, so I’ll move this thread over there.
bibliophage
moderator GQ