Hello everyone,
I am a PhD student in mechanical engineering with an undergraduate background in mathematics and engineering.
I have always been fond of older mathematics books, but as a function of perhaps some undiagnosed ADHD I haven't stuck around to finish many of them.
I recently picked up "Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics" by George W. Mackey, and I was very excited to open up the book and learn more about eigenvalues and such.
I get six pages in, and they speak on differentiable manifolds, Lie algebras, topological invariants, and at such breakneck speed.
Is it normal to take hours on a single set of a dozen or so pages to understand it all? I have always been told I am very smart -- this is the first time even in PhD studies I've feel like I am taking the IQ pill right now -- am I an apeoid forever confined to the realm of classical mechanics?