This is one of several shortened indices into the Quantum Physics Sequence. It is intended for students who are having trouble grasping the meaning of quantum math; or for people who want to learn the simple math of everything and are getting around to quantum mechanics.

There's a widespread belief that quantum mechanics is supposed to be confusing. This is not a good frame of mind for either a teacher or a student. Complicated math can be difficult but it is never, ever allowed to be confusing.

And I find that legendarily "confusing" subjects often are not really all that complicated as math, particularly if you just want a very basic - but still mathematical - grasp on what goes on down there.

This series takes you as far into quantum mechanics as you can go with only algebra. Any further and you should get a real physics textbook - once you know what all the math means.

Quantum Explanations: Quantum mechanics doesn't deserve its fearsome reputation. If you tell people something is supposed to be mysterious, they won't understand it. It's human intuitions that are "strange" or "weird"; physics itself is perfectly normal. Talking about historical erroneous concepts like "particles" or "waves" is just asking to confuse people; present the real, unified quantum physics straight out. The series will take a strictly realist perspective - quantum equations describe something that is real and out there.
Configurations and Amplitude: A preliminary glimpse at the stuff reality is made of. The classic split-photon experiment with half-silvered mirrors. Alternative pathways the photon can take, can cancel each other out. The mysterious measuring tool that tells us the relative squared moduli.
Joint Configurations: The laws of physics are inherently over mathematical entities, configurations, that involve multiple particles. A basic, ontologically existent entity, according to our current understanding of quantum mechanics, does not look like a photon - it looks like a configuration of the universe with "A photon here, a photon there." Amplitude flows between these configurations can cancel or add; this gives us a way to detect which configurations are distinct.
Distinct Configurations: Since configurations are over the combined state

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Siddharth VIZ

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Siddharth VIZ