# How far can you go in Physics without Maths?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-go-in-physics-without-maths/587425>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 30, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-go-in-physics-without-maths/587425 "2011-06-30T20:18:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![notsoheavyd3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/85e7bf/32.png) [@notsoheavyd3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notsoheavyd3)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-you-go-in-physics-without-maths/587425/42 "2011-07-02T12:03:11Z")

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> [@elfkin477](#):
>
> It’s a different sort of math, though. I got an A in physics the same year I got a D+ in Algebra II. Physics and chemistry are heavier on math that is closer similar to word problems (in that formulas have labels) than they are more abstract math courses. I had a hard time solving algebraic equations, but things like calculating velocity made a lot more sense to me because it’s more concrete.

So does that mean if you had to solve problems that were derive the equation sort you’d do well or badly? (Curious since I’ve mentioned this before but the questions we got on tests in my first physics course ended up being “derive the equation” sort of problems. Basically they’d tell you that you had an object of mass ‘m’ at distance ‘l’, or that there was an angle ‘theta’ and what not.) Personally I found that sort of question quite a bit harder. (It was very easy for me to screw it up since there were no number on the test except your score.)

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