I was hired as an intern software developer and I'm finding myself in a situation of working with a lot of complicated physics formulas and being left to figure out the maths by myself.
I understand that to a degree I should be able to work with mathematical formulas as a software developer but it's gotten to a stage where I spend most of my day trying to figure out the data and the formulas rather than working on the task I'm supposed to be doing.
Do I approach my boss about this or would it be generally expected for me to take time to solve the maths? I feel like I'm wasting their time and my time because I don't understand the physics and probably never will but I don't want to come across as unable to do the work.
Background:
- Small scientific company where ~50% of employees are physicists.
- Been working here about 3 months, full time mostly but part time at the moment.
- Interview did not include anywhere near this level of physics.
- I consider myself to be a science savvy person, I have high school equivalent knowledge of physics and chemistry and I have college level knowledge of some areas of math such as linear algebra.
Note for whoever marked this as duplicate: This is not a question about how to ask for help, this question is asking to what extent should I work on my own before asking for help with something I was not hired to do.
Note: Thanks everyone for your answers, I talked to my boss and he explained some things a bit more. Some of it's still out of my depth but to a manageable point! He seems to understand a bit better that physics is not my area of expertise!