Problems

A non-scientist asked me: "What are these problem sets physics students are always talking about?"

After a long-winded and feeble attempt to explain why these become the center of the physics student's existence and a kind of Sysiphean hell, I figured out how to get to the point: "They are a longer and harder version of the math problems elementary school students solve for homework."

Which hardly explains why physics students need to devote ten thousand or so hours to them.

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