From:
http://www.habitablezone.com/space/messages/404231.html

J)---In my opinion, a person need not be a scientist or mathematician to understand Einstein's formula of e=mc2 or the one that I am eluding to.
RL---Maybe not, but it sure helps... barring that you DO at least have to educate yourself yourself on the topic in order to understand it- this means learning mathematics and scientific principles. Until you do so, the understanding will continue to 'elude' you...

I agree with you that a person must have at least the minimum understanding of arithmetic in order to understand the said Einstein's formula.
For instance one must understand multiplication and there must be the understanding of the convention that is used in the arrangement of the symbols.

The symbols for this formula are: e,m,c, and 2 written in superscript.
When the number/symbol "2" is written in superscript and placed right after the letter/symbol "c", then it means that the figure that represents the distance that light photons propagate in a duration of one second in the vacuum of space or "c" can be multiplied by the same figure (squared or raised to the second power) in order to obtain the proper figure that; when multiplied by the figure representing the amount of "m" will result in a figure that represents the amount of "e".

The "m" represents the word mass. The "e" represents the word energy. The "c" represents the word constant, it is widely accepted that light travels at a "constant" speed in the vacuum of space.

At least that is the understanding I came to back in 1957 when I studied the meaning of the formula.
The arithmetic part is very simple, simply square the "c" multiply the result by "m" and the result is "e".

The thorough understanding of the words and the numbers that are supposed to carry the meaning is a little more difficult.
For instance the "c" is the speed of light in the vacuum of space and it has been measured to be nearly 300,000,000 meters per second. That number has a meaning in the real world which is " distance that light (photons) propagate in a duration of one second in the vacuum of space"

If we take 300 million and multiply it by 300 million we will get a number that in the real world represents----what?

I admit that I had difficulty figuring how the speed of light is integrated into everything that is real in the universe, but since RL claims that he is the expert in that area I will let him explain it. (Provided of course that he does not consider it as waste of time.)

While he is explaining the structure of the universe down to the fundamental level, he might as well answer the following questions.

What is mass? In other words, why can mass be converted into energy.
What is energy? Define the source and the function of energy. In other words, why does energy cause the observed effects.

J---What is needed is the thorough understanding of the meaning of words such as energy, space, force, kinetic, potential, mass, and few other common words that are used in scientific circles.

RL---And you clearly dont have that understanding, you cant even use units properly. In the past you have confused energy and power, velocity and energy and momentum. When the people here explain to you that you are wrong it is not to be mean to you, it is because you ARE wrong. You can accept that and try to learn from those that KNOW what they are talking about, or you can keep making a fool of yourself. If you keep posting this nonsense you are going to have to do it on a different board- NOT on Space/Science.

Why do you believe that I do not understand those words?
You "cant" and "dont" use words properly, perhaps you don't understand me because you can't.
Could you point out where I confused energy and power or velocity and momentum?

Johannes