Posting for my son (who does not have an account here):
He's a sophomore math major in college and is looking for a good book on Lie algebra and Lie Groups that he can study over the summer. He wants mathematical rigor, but he is thinking of grad school in theoretical physics, so he also wants...
I used the Piskunov volumes in my undergrad math curriculum at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in the early 80s. Good books with lots of problems, but a bit dry. I still have my copies on my bookshelf.
What everyone is trying to tell you is that as long as the stuff in red is true, and you try to eliminate the stuff in blue in your next course, you'll be fine.
He did say that he was just starting off, which is why I think that Spivak or Apostol would be too much. I really like the Silvanus Thompson book. I picked up a copy myself yesterday and it is really quite brilliantly written. It is an excellent introduction to the concepts.
Are you in the United States? If so, have you considered opening a Mu Alpha Theta chapter? I think my son did it in his school a few years ago (he is a senior now and about to go to college).
You can get details here:
http://www.mualphatheta.org/index.php?chapters/how-to-join
The...
I have not had personal experience with reading it, but a lot of people whose opinion I respect have suggested "Calculus Made Easy" by Silvanus Thompson. I flipped through it at the bookstore and it does seem like a nice introduction to the subject, emphasizing the concepts rather than the...
Apostol's calculus books are fantastic for a first course on analysis, i.e. for a SECOND phase on calculus in the standard pedagogical sequence for most people who want to study mathematics formally. They are too dense to be useful for a first course on single or multi-variable calculus.
Not sure I understand. If you are majoring in Physics, how can you minor in Physics as well? If you choose to minor in Physics, what would you switch your major to?
If you are not from UK/canada/Aus/NZ, you will almost surely be required to take the TOEFL. Indians have to (at least we had to when I graduated in the mid 80s), and most Indians here have excellent English.
He probably needs to take the TOEFL anyway to attend UCSB since he is from Mauritius, so I would suspect that wouldn't be an additional barrier if he chose to attend UPMC.
LRC circuit analysis and study of signals and systems is the bedrock of EE. When you say you don't have any circuits classes, that's a red flag. Your control theory class will build on the transform techniques you learn in those introductory classes. IMO, that's a major gap in your knowledge...
I agree on 3, 5, 7. Also, look into learning Fourier and Laplace transforms inside out, so find out what course (if any) covers those topics. Usually, an introductory control theory or communications theory class will cover enough, but transforms are crucial to studying signals and systems and...
Sure. Kreyszig is a decent start. It will do fo what you are trying to do. You can pick one up for less than Rs. 500. Eswar.com has it.
http://www.eswar.com/book.htm?bookcode=0059283
Also, get Div, Grad, Curl and All that..
Not sure if it is available in India - perhaps you could check...
^ That's a great book. I got it for my son and he really liked it as he was taking his multivariable calculus class. I wish I had that book when I was going through my freshman year! :smile:
I run an R&D department at an electronics company. We are located in the US and we hire almost exclusively from the US. Even for foreign citizens, it is easier to get them going with work permits when they are physically in the country. If you want to end up being working in the US, then IMO...
My son used Multivariable Calculus by Larson and Edwards (10th Edition) for his Multivariable calculus class that he took from JHU as a junior in high school. I flipped through it and found it to be pretty good as an applied calculus text. He liked it and by the time he was done with the course...
Kreyszig is a good choice, I think. At least it was for me when I did my B.S. in the 80s in EE. We did have Apostol as a reference in our freshman calculus class, but it's going to be too formal and proofy and really meant for math majors and not suited for what you want. Same for Spivak.
No.
EE and CS would be a good combo. You will learn all the math you need as you go along. For example, a EE major will cover Fourier and Laplace transforms, etc, and a CS degree will cover some amount of automata theory, discrete math, etc.
You can always supplement this with specific math...
Before you jump back into physics, spend a couple of months coming back up to speed on single variable and multivariable calculus. There's nothing worse than getting back into physics and wondering how exactly you integrated by parts, or computed a line or surface integral. And you'll need all...
Mechanical engineering. Try to work on projects that involve robotics, autonomous vehicles, etc. And in case you aren't (I can't tell from your message), get your US citizenship. Many of these positions are likely to require it.
A slight tangent - OP, I hope you don't mind. If you do, let me know and I'll take this to private message.
Analogdesign, one of my 2018 goals is to become proficient with MATLAB. I've never had a need to use it so far in my professional career. I am reasonably familiar with Python though (my...
This is a life-changing decision. Nobody can answer this for you. You say you are just starting a family. Have you discussed this with your partner? Let's say you are making $100K right now. Can you imagine living on a half or a third of that income? Does your partner work? Is he/she capable...
In my personal opinion, having been an R&D engineer, working in a semiconductor fab for 28 years, and leading large engineering groups since 1995, you've got to be extraordinarily lucky to be able to work on a PhD while working full time. A master's degree can be done while working because it is...
Depending on what level you are starting at, a few courses at a community college may be a way to control costs and still transfer credit to a 4-year college down the road.
You can take classes online these days. I am sure there are others more knowledgeable on this site about this, but in this day of the internet, I am pretty sure you can attend lectures over Skype or something similar, turn in your work and get credit for classes. These kinds of online classes...
Stick the wafer under a microscope and let the kids observe the circuits. Then maybe show them an actual circuit board taken from a gadget - an old vcr or radio or whatever and talk to them about miniaturization. That may connect with them better than a wafer.
Here is a site to look around on, if citizen science is something you would like to engage in.
https://www.volunteer.gov/
I just put "science" into the Interests box. Some intriguing items popped up. For example, Point Reyes National Seashore is looking for volunteers to hike out and...
My high school son is currently enrolled in a Linear Algebra class at a pretty highly regarded liberal arts college in our town.
They follow Hefferon's Linear Algebra. The entire book (3rd edition) is available online for free:
http://joshua.smcvt.edu/linearalgebra/book.pdf
I will let others more knowledgeable about instruction and textbooks comment on your request.
However, I am intrigued by your statement that you "want to contribute to the scientific endeavor on MY TIME."
I would encourage you to contact your local Audubon society and any state or national...
There are many universities that make entrepreneurship a key draw. Stanford is one of them. So is CMU and NYU, I think. Look at the schools and see which of them can give you entrepreneurship opportunities and training. Being an entrepreneur is as much about being business savvy as it is about...
I focused on the researchers. I knew in my sophomore year that I wanted to do work on semiconductors (I was majoring in EE). I would spend weekends at the library, looking up the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, Journal of Applied Physics, Applied Physics Letters, etc. to see who were the...
Do you have a chance to get a postdoc position in the US? When you finish your postdoc contract, it will be a lot easier to apply for US jobs when you are physically in the country than when you are outside.
Others may know more about than me, but I would do a post-doc instead of doing nothing. As a hiring manager, I don't like to see gaps in people's resumes. Stay engaged with the field, contributing and doing something that you can, at the very least, turn into a bullet under "Employment History"...
I think that in general (and there are always exceptions), most R&D labs and facilities (govt or industrial) will require PhDs to get an MTS (member of the technical staff) position. Non PhDs are more likely to have a support staff position (like being in charge of keeping the lab running versus...
Well, again, it depends on exactly what you want to do. I agree that EE occupies the middle ground where you can end up either in a computer design oriented position or on the manufacturing side. But if you are going to focus on writing an operating system or doing hardcore software work, or...
OK, here goes.
I am 53 years old, in industrial (semiconductor manufacturing) R&D for the last 28 years. So, this is from a long time ago, but it had a lasting impression on me.
When I was in high school, I had an absolutely wonderful mathematics teacher. I was in India at that time and...
I don't get it. If you have a need to highlight everything, or to copy everything, then why copy or highlight anything at all? Just re-read the textbook.
Sounds like your problem is self-created.
Can you just have your book with you in the class and use a highlighter to mark important things? I don't see the point of re-writing things that are already there in black and white in the book right in front of you. You just need some way to mark the key things, which is why highlighters...
I handle silicon wafers for a living. They are not that flimsy. Have the students handle the wafers a few inches over a table and they'll be fine. If they break by any chance, just have the students step back and vacuum the debris.
Has your opinion of your teachers been formed by actually spending time in their class or hearsay? RatemyProfessor ratings are garbage. Since the semester has just started, I am skeptical that you can make such a definitive conclusion about them in the week or two that you have seen them teach...
Stat mech is an elective? Given how fundamental that subject is, I don't think that skipping stat mech is a good idea. Along with classical and quantum mechanics and electromagnetics, it should form the foundation of any physics curriculum.
See if you can get an assistantship. That way, you are working on something that you could potentially leverage into your thesis, or at least grading papers or having after-class sessions for your advisor, which can help with establishing a relationship with him/her.