Recent content by ran13

Thank you for the help. I did get around to doing the proof that every neighborhood of zero contains infinitely many points in form 1/n, though it did take a while... Thanks again.

This isn't really hw, just me being confused over some examples. I have 'learned' the basic definitions of neighborhood, limit point, closed, and closure but have some trouble accepting the following examples. 1. For Q in R, Q is not closed. The set of all limit points of Q is R, so its...

Oh... I can't believe I made that error! I found the spinor for X+/- by varying b only. Same for the X0 part. I guess I was frazzled by the computation. Thanks vela; I'll follow your suggestions and post back here if I need more help. Thanks again :)

Thank you... I still don't seem to understand. Work out the trivial solution? And taking the positive eigenvalue case, I seem to get tautological answers, like b = b, and a = a. Do you mean I need to come up with any column vector that satisfies this relations? Like based on this same positive...

Ok, thanks. I did that and.. do I assume that for λ = 0, the solution is trivial? Using + ħ I get these relations \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}b = a \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(a+c) = b \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}b = c And using - ħ I get these relations \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}b = -a \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(a+c) = -b...

Homework Statement I use Griffiths and see the example for spin 1/2 to derive the eigenspinor of Sx. I just can't seem to follow how he get from there or how he is measuring the probability for a given state. Homework Equations I have correctly derived the...

Bump! Any advice at this point in time would be appreciated. I don't want to end up enrolling into the wrong program... PhDs don't really allow room for double dipping :(

I'll look into those mathematical physics programs then. Shame that they're rare... It seems like a fascinating field. I could only register for one subject GRE (math) so hopefully that will not be an issue? Any other tips on this topic? Anyone who's made this transition or achieved...

Hi PFers, I'm a senior physics/math major and very interested in pure mathematics (esp. algebra and number theory) but I'm also interested in the very abstract side of physics like string/particle, some QFT and unification theory. If I pursue mathematics as a graduate as opposed to...

Anyone at all, please??

In short I'm a junior transfer with 1 year left to do my undergrad degree (constrained by time but mostly $). The physics major was too spread out for me to complete (since I only got to mechanics/EM last year); I chose chem because of the possibility of taking pchem. My math is Calc I-III and...

Thanks, I'll check those out. I find that to be the problem too... it's necessary to hack the math and memorize definitions, I know, but I feel like at this point, Serway isn't giving me anything beyond that. I'm interested enough to want to have a solid understanding of what I'm learning...

Thanks, I'll check out Purcell then. I agree, that's part of it too. I have a Schaum book and I'm gradually working my way through their problems. Thanks!

I actually saw that, so let me see if I get what you're saying... The E field is uniform on the surface, it's initially radial because it's not interacting with anything (these are ideals but I'm assuming it's okay to assume this for the sake of simplicity?) or maybe doesn't have a definite...

Sorry, but when you said, 'It does not', which question were you referring to? Regarding your analogy, what would be the counterpart for a charge at the top of the hill, that is, right before it rolls down the hill? Would the resistor be fully charged and equipotential, or is this after the...