Calculus and Physics texts for refrence

Doom of Doom

Ok, so I am just ending my first freshman semester at college. I took two years of calculus and physics in high school and got 5's on the AP tests for Physics C and Calculus BC. So, when I got to college, I was placed into Calc III and Into to Modern Physics. They've been great classes, and even without the rigorous calculus training from college, I've done outstandingly well in both classes. The only thing that I regret is not having are my own introductory books for calculus and physics so that I could look through them for reference, because I had to use the school's books when I was in high school.

I was wondering what books I should get to keep and use as reference for the future. I used Stewart's calculus books and Halliday's physics books in high school, and thought they were ok, but not great.

I've already had extensive training in physics and calculus, so what kind of books should I get just for reference? I was thinking like Apostol for calculus, but they run kind of expensive. What do y'all think?

Daverz

Well, since you don't need them for a class, you don't need to get the latest editions. For R&H, I find Physics to be much better than Fundamentals of Physics.

More used options here. My preferences are for the 1977 3rd edition of Physics, but that's just because it's the edition I have.

And I think the Feynman Lectures make a fine reference. The lecture format makes it easy to brush up on particular topics.

Doom of Doom

Ok great.

I was wondering, what is the difference between the older editions of Resnick and Halliday and the newer ones? Nobody seems to like the newer versions on this forum, but that seems to be what a lot of colleges are using these days.

CPL.Luke

I'm under the impression that the older ones acknowledged that the reader had a brain, the newer one oversimplifies everything and the problems are almost always plug and chug from a formula that they provided as a quick reference.

Daverz

There's a difference between Physics and Fundamentals of Physics, the latter being somewhat watered down. Also the problems in Physics are more challenging. I'm comparing the 3rd edition of Physics with the 2nd "extended" edition of Fundamentals. However, for reference purposes, Fundamentals may be fine, and used copies are really easy to find.

Some people also like the 1966 edition of Physics. Try searching the forum, there have been a couple of threads on Resnick and Halliday.

And of course there are other respected textbooks like Sears, another one that goes back many decades.