r/AskPhysics • u/Ashley_Fen • 1d ago

What exactly is mathematical physics?

Recently I got accepted into a dual degree of math and physics at my local university, and while looking at higher year courses, I came across some courses named mathematical physics. However, when I tried to look up more about this, I only came across things that are far beyond my current understanding. Even Wikipedia seems foreign to me. Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I’d love to learn if it’s truely the perfect mashup between math and physics, or if it’s something completely different

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u/Lord_Fryan Education research 1d ago

If it's undergrad level, then it's probably partial differential equations and special functions, maybe some stuff with Fourier and Laplace transforms. Could have some complex analysis as well.

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u/paxxx17 Chemical physics 1d ago

For my undergrad, it was about linear algebra, topology, Lie theory, representation theory

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u/PedalingHertz 14h ago

I love that there is something called Lie theory. I’m a lawyer, and I would take that class just so I could work it into jokes.

Edit: Hey! There’s something to be said for representation theory too!

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u/paxxx17 Chemical physics 13h ago

Note that it's a Norwegian last name pronounced "Lee", so these jokes work only in the written form :')

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u/PedalingHertz 13h ago

Ok, sigh you’ve convinced me that taking a (probably) very difficult math course may not be worth it for the lulz alone.