Knowledge is often unquantifiable, math brings the details and provides the next small step. For example plasma, as it was dealt with here, plasma was electromagnetic not particles. So, to deflect plasma, total internal reflection,
reflective index is important not magnetic field. As wave plasma has long wavelength, alternating electric and magnetic fields out of phase means the fields can pass through the material meters ahead before the fields are at the correct angles to interact with the confining magnetic fluxes.
Board direction changes attention from particles to waves; not the mathematical details, which nudge the next small step forward.
