Why are Physicists so informal with mathematics?

bob012345 said:

So, the original question asked in this thread is why physicists are so informal with math. Please critique the following argument (and please be kind...). It seems to me if math is just a tool physicists use to represent physical ideas, the rigor of the mathematical argument does not infer the rigor of the physical argument. Proof in the mathematical realm does not infer proof in the physical realm otherwise any proposed theory would automatically imply proof as meaningful physics merely by being rigorously true mathematically. So physicists are more concerned with the physics ideas represented than the mathematical rigor of the presentation.