Reading Goldstein's Classical Mechanics as an Undergraduate

[robphy]

Hmm I would have to find my transcript for detail (1978).
...

I have a feeling that your college is one of the elite Little Ivies.

 

[gmax137]

...why?

I can think of several reasons. In no particular order:

Do most 17 or 18 year old college freshmen really know they want to study physics or classical literature? How would they know? Why not allow them to try classes in each (and more) and let them decide later what they want to study in depth?

Must a physics graduate think and talk only about physics? Wouldn't it be nice to know at least something about subjects beyond your major?

Is the purpose of the college/university training or education? The liberal arts approach is trying to teach the students how to think critically, how to write clearly, how to study, how to learn. With that, you can spend the rest of your life studying and learning whatever you choose. The variety of subject matter helps because the study habits are different: for physics you must do problem sets, for math you must do proofs. What would a history or literature "problem set" look like?

I went on to graduate school in engineering. Quite a different experience, much more emphasis on gaining specialized knowledge (almost approaching training). Much more pointed at future employment.

 

[gmax137]

I have a feeling that your college is one of the elite Little Ivies.

I wonder how many Ephs have found their way to physicsforums?

 

[wrobel]

For the second, do you know a better treatment than the one by V.S. Vladimirov?

I like

Michael Renardy Robert C. Rogers: An Introduction to
Partial Differential Equations

L. Evans: Partial Differential Equations

Michael Taylor: PDE

M. Shubin: Lectures in PDE (in Russian, perhaps there exists in English)

O. Oleinik: Lectures in PDE (in Russian, perhaps there exists in English)