Recommended Textbooks for Relativity: Practice Problems and Answers Included?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers on recommendations for textbooks covering General Relativity (GR) and Special Relativity (SR) that include practice problems and answers for self-assessment. Participants share various resources and personal experiences related to their study of relativity.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant seeks a downloadable textbook that covers both GR and SR with included practice problems and answers.
  • Another participant suggests that a high school manual could be a good starting point for SR, along with recommending Einstein's own writings.
  • A different participant mentions "Motionmountain vol.II Relativity," which includes partial answers, and provides links to Einstein's book that lacks exercises.
  • Another suggestion includes resources from Einstein's online presence, although the availability of problems and answers is uncertain.
  • One participant recommends "Spacetime Physics" by Taylor/Wheeler for SR and "Schutz" for GR.
  • A participant mentions a book from a previous professor that is part of the Oxford Masters series, noting that it is at an undergraduate level and includes most answers, as well as recommending Hartle's book for its clear explanations despite lacking full solutions.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants present multiple competing views on suitable textbooks and resources, with no consensus on a single recommended text. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the best options for textbooks with practice problems and answers.

Contextual Notes

Some recommendations depend on the participants' educational backgrounds and locations, which may influence the appropriateness of the suggested texts. There is also uncertainty regarding the completeness of answers in the recommended resources.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be useful for students and educators seeking textbooks on relativity that include practice problems and answers, as well as for those interested in various perspectives on learning resources in the field of physics.

Nervous
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I'm trying to find a textbook I can download that covers GR and SR and includes practice problems so I can test myself. Naturally, answers would need to be included so I can check my answers.
 
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Well I don't know where are you from, but here in my country a good start for SR would be a high school manual, i'll study SR in the 12 grade and you can find problems there.After that or even along side that i would recommend Theory of Relativity for everyone written by Einstein himself(I hope i translated the title correctly).
 
Nervous said:
I'm trying to find a textbook I can download that covers GR and SR and includes practice problems so I can test myself. Naturally, answers would need to be included so I can check my answers.

Motionmountain vol.II Relativity has partial answers included.
http://motionmountain.net/contents.html

PS here's a link to Einstein book "relativity" (regretfully it contains no exercises):
http://www.bartleby.com/173/
 
Last edited:
I would go with Taylor/Wheeler's Spacetime physics for SR, and Schutz for GR.
 
I can recommend a book by one of my previous professors amazon link. It's part of the oxford masters series but don't let that intimidate you because it's definitely undergraduate level. It's a very good book and all or most answers are provided as far as I know.

Alternatively there's Hartle amazon link. While full solutions aren't included, there are a lot of examples in the book. And while it's meant as an undergraduate book, I still turned to it quite frequently when I took GR in grad school because explanations were so clear.
 

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