Studying Are Lecture Notes Useful for studying?

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The discussion centers on the suitability of advanced Lecture Notes, specifically from Springer, for a first-year physics student. It is established that these materials are generally intended for graduate-level study and are not appropriate for beginners. Recommendations for foundational physics texts include Halliday & Resnick and Sears & Zemansky, which are more accessible for early learners. The conversation also touches on the student's interest in group theory and topology, with suggestions for beginner-friendly books such as "A Book of Abstract Algebra" by Charles C. Pinter and "Intuitive Topology" by Prasolov. The importance of building a solid understanding of classical mechanics before delving into more complex topics like gauge theory is emphasized, as well as the value of collaborative study with peers.
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One day I borrowed a book published by Springer (For learning Mechanics). I find it very difficult to follow. Later, I discover that it is in fact Lecture Notes. I am only a yr 1 physics student, but I want to explore as many area in physics as I can.
My question is, are Lecture Notes such as Springer suitable for me?

https://www.amazon.com/Topology-Geometry-Gauge-fields-Foundations/dp/1441972536/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1322839400&sr=1-1&tag=vglnk-c905-20
 
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This textbook that you're referring to is an upper-year or even graduate level text on mechanics.
"classical gauge theory of physics with the topological and geometrical concepts that became the mathematical models of these notions",
" the book offers an excursion that begins with the definition of a topological space and finds its way eventually to the moduli space of anti-self-dual SU(2) connections on S4 with instanton number -1."
I haven't read this text myself but from that description alone it tells me this is definitely not a 1st year text.

This is DEFINITELY not suited to your current level.

Get Halliday & Resnick or even Sears & Zemansky to start with.
 
I don't think you are going to be able to read that book at your level unfortunately. I think many "lecture notes" will be readable but those assume too much background.
 
Who reccomended this book to you ? The Lecture Notes series from Springer is not for class study, the books are tipically ment for graduate and PhD study.
 
There is, however, The Feynman Lectures on Physics, that is quite applicable.
 
dextercioby said:
Who reccomended this book to you ? The Lecture Notes series from Springer is not for class study, the books are tipically ment for graduate and PhD study.

I read a book call "Why Beauty is Truth", which talks about the history of physics and maths. I find that in the recent year, physics involve a lot of group theory and topology, therefore, I am interested in what is group theory and topology. But I don't know where can I start.

Are there any books suitable for me? (I mean to learn about group theory, books which are really easy to understand)
 
Clever-Name said:
This textbook that you're referring to is an upper-year or even graduate level text on mechanics.


I haven't read this text myself but from that description alone it tells me this is definitely not a 1st year text.

This is DEFINITELY not suited to your current level.

Get Halliday & Resnick or even Sears & Zemansky to start with.

I form a physics group with 3 other students, they are all physics lover. With our group work, we finish Special Relativity and now we are working on Lagrangian mechanics (studying very basic equations).

One day I introduce them the terms group theory and topology, they are all very excited. So can you recommend some books about group theory and topology that can cure our hunger?
 
https://www.amazon.com/Mathematical-Classical-Mechanics-Graduate-Mathematics/dp/0387968903

This book is only somewhat about topology and group theory but it is very beautiful and I actually recommend you finish a bit more Clasical Mechanics before moving on (you say you are studying lagrangian mechanics now). If you guys are advanced I actually think your first book is fine. I think you just need to study a little more physics before reading it. I really think you should study more Quantum and classical mechanics to understand gauge theory.
 
Group theory and topology are big subjects.

For group theory, you might try A Book of Abstract Algebra by Charles C. Pinter, Symmetry by Hermann Weyl, Galois Theory by Ian Stewart, or Groups and their Graphs by Magnus and Grossman.

Although I am a topologist, I don't really know what the good books are for beginners, since I came at it from a traditional math major's approach, starting with real analysis, and then learning point-set from Munkres Topology.

Maybe you could try Intuitive Topology by Prasolov.
 

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