The Physics Papers I Can Understand: Tips for Limited Math Knowledge

[dipta]

I want to understand most physics papers, but I don't have much time to learn every Math subject.

When I was in college, I only took Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Statistics. I can't understand many Physics papers that interest me.

 

[gleem]

What are the subject(s) of the papers that interest you? This will help narrow down the math that will be most relevant.

 

[BvU]

but I don't have much time

Make time

What Math subject do you recommend
...
in college, I only took Calculus, Linear Algebra, and

I recommend Calculus and Linear Algebra at university level - someething most unversities have in their curriculum for every physics student

 

[Dr. Courtney]

A common list of math courses required for BS degrees in Physics (at least in the US) is:

Calc 1, Calc 2, Calc 3, Differential Equations, and Linear Algebra

Most BS programs in Physics also require a course something like Mathematical Methods in Physics taught in the Physics department that includes a number of important things for Physics majors.

Some schools require or recommend something that a numerical methods course.

But there is a lot of partial differential equations, vector calculus, and statistics left for students to learn on the fly in their Quantum Mechanics, E&M, and Statistical Mechanics courses, and a bit (or more) calculus of variations needed to be learned on the fly in Classical Mechanics courses.

It's not a bad idea for most physics majors to pick up another upper level math course or two depending on their interests and how much other math is included in the Physics courses required for graduation. But since the more valuable math courses tend to vary with student interests, many departments leave these choices up to the students rather than requiring the same courses for every major.

 

[symbolipoint]

a lot of partial differential equations, vector calculus, and statistics left for students to learn on the fly in their Quantum Mechanics, E&M, and Statistical Mechanics courses, and a bit (or more) calculus of variations needed to be learned on the fly in Classical Mechanics courses.

Flies like that need more advanced brains. The paragraph which came next in your post was much better. I guess the smarter students can both study and fly at the same time.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

Flies like that need more advanced brains. The paragraph which came next in your post was much better. I guess the smarter students can both study and fly at the same time.

I think I accurately described what is expected of Physics majors. If students prefer not to learn all those math subjects on the fly while taking the Physics courses in which they are included, then they need to take some intentional steps (such as taking a course beforehand or self-study) to get ahead of the curve.

 

[symbolipoint]

I think I accurately described what is expected of Physics majors. If students prefer not to learn all those math subjects on the fly while taking the Physics courses in which they are included, then they need to take some intentional steps (such as taking a course beforehand or self-study) to get ahead of the curve.

In other words, preparation before study is very helpful. The kind of more forward planning you are describing is something that graduate students probably do, in order that they ensure greater likelihood of success.

 

[PAllen]

I think I accurately described what is expected of Physics majors. If students prefer not to learn all those math subjects on the fly while taking the Physics courses in which they are included, then they need to take some intentional steps (such as taking a course beforehand or self-study) to get ahead of the curve.

It certainly describes what I remember. Physics majors learned much appropriate math in condensed, not so rigorous, form as part of physics courses, especially things like calculus of variations, This remains the most common approach in a first GR course, so far as I know - all the special math is covered in the physics course. I was considered very unusual for systematically going through a monograph on calculus variations to get a more complete understanding (necessary versus sufficient conditions for a extremum, local versus global extremum conditions, conjugate points, etc. not covered in the physics version of the topic for classical mechanics). So far as I knew, there was no undergraduate math department course that covered this where I was.