Classical Mechanics and E&M introductory books

[Starlit_day]

Hi,
I looking for books that have practice problems (with explanations would be nice) on general introductory level Calc. based Classical Mechanics.
And for Electromagnetism I'm looking for an introductory book that has practice problems. I haven't taken Multivariable Calc. yet (I'll be taking that over the summer) and I was hoping for an intro book on E&M that makes use of stuff up until CalcIII because after that I just won't know what is going on. : )
Any suggestions would be helpful, thanks.

 

[Gingia]

I'm not particularly well-versed with physics, so take this post with a pinch of salt (unless I'm actually right...unlikely)

This post is mainly meant to help you get around what I think will be unavoidable - vector calculus in E&M. Personally, I prefer reading books that don't sweep the "hairy details" under the rug (in vector calculus, some of this hairiness is actually quite beautiful!)

I think running into vector calculus when studying E&M may be unavoidable - you're studying charged particles in 3-space, after all. Of course, there's plenty of books which brush this under the rug and only tell you the equations you need to know; most first-course books probably do this.

If you want a good survey of vector calculus (good enough to understand the E&M stuff), then look at 'Div,Curl,Grad..." by Schey. I'm pretty sure he wrote it as a supplement to a freshman E&M course at MIT. You could also go over Marsden & Tromba's 'Vector Calculus', although that's a lot longer and more involving than Schey's book. Then you could read any standard first course, I suppose.

I liked 'Electricity and Magnetism' by Purcell more than the other books I used when I took E&M, you may be interested in that text. Knight's book has a lot of practice problems too. So one of these books along with Schey may be your best bet for E&M.

 

[qspeechc]

Hi,
I looking for books that have practice problems (with explanations would be nice) on general introductory level Calc. based Classical Mechanics.
And for Electromagnetism I'm looking for an introductory book that has practice problems. I haven't taken Multivariable Calc. yet (I'll be taking that over the summer) and I was hoping for an intro book on E&M that makes use of stuff up until CalcIII because after that I just won't know what is going on. : )
Any suggestions would be helpful, thanks.

It sounds like you want one of those standard freshman-level general physics books. There are a number of standards, but I have not read them all: Halliday and Resnick, Young and Freedman, Knight, Alonso and Finn.

The ones I am familiar with are Halliday and Resnick, and Alonso and Finn. Both are excellent. If you get Halliday and Resnick make sure you get "Physics" and not "Fundamentals of Physics" because the latter has been watered down. If you get Alonso and Finn be sure to get the first edition and not the second, for the same reason. However the first edition of Alonso and Finn is very expensive and hard to find. Happy hunting.

 

[Armidylano44]

This is the text my Physics 1 class used this year. I liked it quite a bit and found the examples helpful.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470503459/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[qspeechc]

This is the text my Physics 1 class used this year. I liked it quite a bit and found the examples helpful.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470503459/?tag=pfamazon01-20

That is the book I used as a freshman (the 1st edition). Beside the fact that the revised edition came out a few weeks after the course started, making all our books out-dated, I never liked the book, and most of my class-mates didn't either.

Some things I recall I did not like:
Not enough problems; problems not challenging enough; very few and very elementary examples; bare minimum of theory, more emphasis on "visualizing"; tries to avoid math at all cost; not much theory; doesn't cover many topics; tries to mix modern and classical physics, with disasterous effect in my opinion; etc.

The good things about the book you can read on the amazon reviews. It is a new approach to freshman physics when I think there is nothing wrong with the old approach: difficult material and difficult problems.

 

[Armidylano44]

That is the book I used as a freshman (the 1st edition). Beside the fact that the revised edition came out a few weeks after the course started, making all our books out-dated, I never liked the book, and most of my class-mates didn't either.

Some things I recall I did not like:
Not enough problems; problems not challenging enough; very few and very elementary examples; bare minimum of theory, more emphasis on "visualizing"; tries to avoid math at all cost; not much theory; doesn't cover many topics; tries to mix modern and classical physics, with disasterous effect in my opinion; etc.

The good things about the book you can read on the amazon reviews. It is a new approach to freshman physics when I think there is nothing wrong with the old approach: difficult material and difficult problems.

I guess I do not know what I have not had. From what you've just said, now I'm also interested in looking into another classical physics book to augment what I've learned.

 

[qspeechc]

I guess I do not know what I have not had. From what you've just said, now I'm also interested in looking into another classical physics book to augment what I've learned.

I know I came across as very harsh on the book. There are some things I like about it. Like bringing in programming, models, trying to understand what really goes on (like the stuff about how the electrons arrange in a current in a wire, if I remember correctly). It is not a terrible book by any means, I just think the other books I mentioned will serve you better in the long run. I do, however, think it is a good supplement to a more traditional book. Of course this is just my opinion and it does not mean I am correct. Other people will have other opinions and they may be correct, not me.
Oh, also we used the first edition. I don't know how different the third edition is, but the basic philosophy of the book probably hasn't changed.