I'm having some trouble wrapping my head around multi-variate distributions. Most textbooks describe it by starting off with two random variables X, Y and introducing P(X \leq x, Y \leq y). This initially led me to believe that X, Y uniquely determine the distribution over R^2 - I later...
I'm looking for a list of books that may be used to either instill a passion for physics/math in high schoolers (leading them to pursue higher studies in the field), or to rekindle the snuffed flames in jaded graduate students. I have posed this question primarily to recover from my 4th year...
I think it is important to make a distinction between interest and mental discipline. My fascination with physics has not abated since I started college - if anything, I now have an even greater drive to read pages upon pages of dense text. Unfortunately, I have always been under the mistaken...
Any two-body attractive potential problem is equivalent to that of a single body in a central potential V(r) (i.e. independent of angle \theta). Since the potential is spherically symmetric, angular momentum is conserved. Since the original potential is a function of \frac{1}{r_c^2} (where r_c...
I have learned this the hard way.
I'll probably apply for a research course in the summer or fall. Hopefully the experience of working under the supervision of (another) faculty member will offset this disastrous term.
Thanks for the replies, everyone.
I'll have to contemplate this. The most likely alternative to grad school seems to be slaving away my life in a cube 9-5, pecking a keyboard to create the latest garbagety "enterprise AJAX/Web 2.0/BuzzwordTechnologyOfTheMonth" application for a company that sells pet rocks. That absolutely...
I just failed three 4th year physics courses (classical mechanics, QM and condensed matter). The reason for failure has been a serious lack of discipline. I have had a piss-poor work ethic over the past 8 months, regularly tanking problem sets and having a generally jaded attitude toward my...