The wave function, in turn, yields a вЂњprobability amplitude,вЂќ which, when squared, yields the likelihood that youвЂ™ll find the electron in a certain spot. Consider the SchrГ¶dinger equation, which allows you to compute the вЂњwave functionвЂќ of an electron. Physicists share this craving with religious folk, who need to believe that their path to salvation is the One True Path.Д«ut can you call a theory true if no one understands it? A century after inventing quantum mechanics, physicists still squabble over what, exactly, it tells us about reality. They want to believe that their theories are correct- exclusively correct-representations of nature. They predict the arc of planets and the flutter of electrons, and they have spawned smartphones, H-bombs and-well, what more do we need? But scientists, and especially physicists, arenвЂ™t just seeking practical advances.

More to GracieвЂ™s point, how real are the equations with which we represent nature? As real as or even more real than nature itself, as Plato insisted? Were quantum mechanics and general relativity waiting for us to discover them in the same way that gold, gravity and galaxies were waiting? Galileo declared that вЂњthe great book of nature is written in mathematics.вЂќ WeвЂ™re part of nature, arenвЂ™t we? So why does mathematics, once we get past natural numbers and basic arithmetic, feel so alien to most of us? Plato held that we and other things of this world are mere shadows of the sublime geometric forms that constitute reality. Reality, great sages have assured us, is essentially mathematical. I envision it as an immaterial paradise where luminescent cognoscenti glide to and fro, telepathically swapping witticisms about adjoint operators. Far from exploring Hilbert space, I canвЂ™t even find a window through which to peer into it. Pondering Hilbert space makes me feel like a lump of dumb, decrepit flesh trapped in a squalid, 3-D prison. Take Hilbert space, a realm of infinite dimensions swarming with arrow-shaped abstractions called vectors. I keep wondering, as Cunningham put it, вЂњWho came up with this concept?вЂќ Wolfgang Pauli dismissed some ideas as so off base that theyвЂ™re вЂњnot even wrong.вЂќ IвЂ™m so confused that IвЂ™m not even confused. Since last May, as part of my ongoing effort to learn quantum mechanics, IвЂ™ve been struggling to grasp eigenvectors, complex conjugates and other esoterica. GracieвЂ™s complaints struck a chord in me. But how would you come up with the concept of algebra?вЂќ While some geeks mocked Cunningham, others came to her defense, pointing out that she is raising questions that have troubled scientific heavyweights. вЂњI get addition, like, if I take two apples and add three itвЂ™s five. Some of the math sheвЂ™s learning in school, Cunningham suggests, has little to do with the world in which she lives. вЂњI was just doing my makeup for work,вЂќ Gracie Cunningham says while dabbing makeup on her face, вЂњand I just wanted to tell you guys how I donвЂ™t think math is real.вЂќ

My girlfriend recently alerted me to a viral video in which a teenage girl complains about mathematics.

Schrodinger equation