Recent content by ThereIam

Hi all, I am reading through Riley, Hobson, and Bence's Mathematical Methods for Phyisics and Engineering, and on page 854 of my edition they describe (I am replacing variables for ease of typing) "expanding 1/(a-z) in (z-z0)/(a-z0) as a geometric series 1/(a-z0)*Sum[((z-z0)/(a-z0))^n] for n...

Thanks, that's what I was doing. I must have just been screwing up the algebra. Yeah, I was asking two different questions: 1) Should I memorize these derivations and 2) by what point in my physics career should I be proficient with the Frobenius method (not "Is it important to know how to use...

Large tech companies often have internship positions in R&D (and I'm sure many small companies could, too). I was fortunate because my school actually had already sort of established a relationship with one, but I still had to interview and apply and all that jazz. So my advice to you would...

I can tell this is simple, but I'm just not seeing it: (pages 146-147) Radial equation = d^{2}u/dp^{2} = [1 - p_{0}/p + l(l+1)/p^{2}]u Later... (having stripped off the asymptotic p^{l}e^{-p} parts) d^{2}u/dp^{2} = p^{l}e^{-p}{[-2l-2+p+l(l+1)/p]v + 2(l+1-p)dv/dp + p*d^{2}v/dp^{2}} And he...

So I've been self-studying from Griffiths Intro to QM to get back in shape for graduate school this fall, and I guess I'd just like some confirmation that I'm on the right track... So while I am sure there are many other applications, the one I am dealing with is eigenfunctions of an operator...

I should clarify - I worked in an industrial lab to get my research experience (and this happened after school). It was in R&D. The grad school application process is a total crap shoot and I took a shotgun approach (do not recommend) and only got into a couple of places, so I cannot say how...

My studies followed a similar route, except that I was pursuing a BA and not BS, which may have given me an easier time insofar as requirements were concerned. When all was said and done I had taken the bare minimum of mathematics and not much beyond the minimum for physics (I think I had two...

Well, that explains why I couldn't find anything about it in Anton's Elementary Linear Algebra book, haha.

Hi all, I'm sort of struggling to understand the difference between active and passive transformations. I'm working with two books, and both say that in one case the vectors are transformed (active) and in the other the operators are transformed (passive). That's fine and dandy, but in terms...

The short answer is yes. To understand "advanced" undergraduate physics one needs Calculus I, II, III, differential equations, and linear algebra. More advanced math will be required for elementary particles and relativity, but don't worry about it now. My advice: take things step by step...

Homework Statement This makes intuitive sense to me, but I am getting stuck when trying to read the Dirac notation proof. Anyway, the author (Shankar) is just demonstrating that the product of two operators is equal to the product of the matrices representing the factors. Homework Equations...

Thank you very much for your responses gneill. I really do appreciate them, and I can see that they present a simpler approach to a solution. I am still frustrated by my lack of understanding as to why my original approach didn't work. Something I'm trying to work on is my calculus skills...

vanhees71, that's what I thought I had done in my attempt above. It should say "y = 0.4" But anyway vcos(∅) = vy. F in the y direction I thought equals vqBcos(∅)*m. I thought by breaking them into those components I had decoupled them. Could you elaborate? Thanks!

Homework Statement So there's a rectangular region in the xy plane subjected to a magnetic field B with strength 0.06T pointing in the -z. A proton moving in the xy plane enters the region with velocity v such that the velocity components are initially vx = v*cos(24), vy = v*sin(24). It...

Thank you for the replies. Dauto's response makes a bit more sense to me. mfb, in both cases I was referring to the charge found on the surface of a conductor. The distribution of charge itself was assumed to be a surface having no width. Do you disagree with Dauto's explanation? Dauto, if...