For many years I have been saying that I would like to write a book (or series of books) called Physics for Mathematicians. Whenever I would tell people that, they would say, “Oh good, you're going to explain quantum mechanics, or string theory, or something like that”. And I would say, “Well that would be nice, but I can't begin to do that now; first I have to learn elementary physics, so the first thing I will be writing will be Mechanics for Mathematicians”. So then people would say, “Ah, so you're going to be writing about symplectic structures”, or something of that sort. And I would have to say, “No, I'm not trying to write a book about mathematics for mathematicians, I'm trying to write a book about physics for mathematicians”; …… it's elementary mechanics that I don't understand. … I mean, for example, that I don't understand this — lever.. Most of us know the law of the lever, but this law is simply a quantitative statement of exactly how amazing the lever is, and doesn't give us a clue as to why it is true, how such a small force at one end can exert such a great force at the other. Now physicists all agree that Newton's Three Laws are the basis from which all of mechanics follows, but if you ask for an explanation of the lever in terms of these three laws, you will almost certainly not get a satisfactory answer. Michael Spivak
About This Quote

The law of the lever is simply a quantitative statement about the lever. The law gives us an answer about how great the lever is, but not why it is so great or how it works in this way. In order to solve the equation of the lever, we must first learn how to think quantitatively and mathematically. We have to have a mathematical mind before we can use our understanding of physics to understand levers.

In this quote, Einstein is saying that he doesn't understand elementary mechanics, which means he doesn't understand levers. Therefore, he is going to start by learning the math required to understand levers instead of trying to learn physics for physicists.

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