SWaB: Einstein's GR not solvable

[notFritzArgelander]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswith ... 8f7a6434a8

[ThinkerX]

yet GR is still the best fit for the vast bulk of the known data...

hmmm...maybe the Great Old Ones are rolling incomprehensible dice again...

[notFritzArgelander]

yet GR is still the best fit for the vast bulk of the known data...

hmmm...maybe the Great Old Ones are rolling incomprehensible dice again...

It's more like the more complex the theory the fewer exact solutions are available. After all in Newton's gravity only the two bodies with mass problem can be solved. A third body with mass is not solvable. If it's zero mass you're in luck. The advent of QM and GR saw the two body problem become unsolvable. A quantum gravity? We'll be lucky if the zero body problem can be solved.

Still, there are numerical solutions by computer.

[helicon]

General Relativity has enabled a much wider perspective on how the universe really works compared to the Newtonian view. It's unfortunate that not all of the equations can be solved (possibly not by anyone) but I expect the body of knowledge on how it governs the universe will continue to expand as folks continue to work on defining the theory.

[notFritzArgelander]

General Relativity has enabled a much wider perspective on how the universe really works compared to the Newtonian view. It's unfortunate that not all of the equations can be solved (possibly not by anyone) but I expect the body of knowledge on how it governs the universe will continue to expand as folks continue to work on defining the theory.

For the purposes of the article "solvable" simply means you can derive, with pencil and paper, a mathematical expression that solves the theory for a sufficiently simple case. Everything else is an approximate solution. :shrug: That's just the theoretical physics standard operating procedure. In QM a one electron atom, hydrogen, is exactly solvable. Helium isn't. That doesn't mean we can't calculate the approximate energy levels of helium to whatever precision we need.

[ThinkerX]

yet GR is still the best fit for the vast bulk of the known data...

hmmm...maybe the Great Old Ones are rolling incomprehensible dice again...

It's more like the more complex the theory the fewer exact solutions are available. After all in Newton's gravity only the two bodies with mass problem can be solved. A third body with mass is not solvable. If it's zero mass you're in luck. The advent of QM and GR saw the two body problem become unsolvable. A quantum gravity? We'll be lucky if the zero body problem can be solved.

Still, there are numerical solutions by computer.

so the Great Old One's are playing with weird dice again...

you figure Azathoth or Cthuhlu is going to win?

[notFritzArgelander]

yet GR is still the best fit for the vast bulk of the known data...

hmmm...maybe the Great Old Ones are rolling incomprehensible dice again...

It's more like the more complex the theory the fewer exact solutions are available. After all in Newton's gravity only the two bodies with mass problem can be solved. A third body with mass is not solvable. If it's zero mass you're in luck. The advent of QM and GR saw the two body problem become unsolvable. A quantum gravity? We'll be lucky if the zero body problem can be solved.

Still, there are numerical solutions by computer.

so the Great Old One's are playing with weird dice again...

you figure Azathoth or Cthuhlu is going to win?

the Name that can be named is not the Eternal Name.