University Physics by Young & Freedman - Self Study

[truman]

Am I being lulled by a basic text?

I am re-studying basic physics and calculus for a run at a physics degree. I am using the Stewart text for calculus and I find it challenging.

I am using the Young and Freedman physics text, and I find the calculus-based portions incredibly basic. I am afraid if I am not using a challenging enough text, I will be hit with a brick wall when I re-enroll at university.

Am I on the right course with this text?

 

[xdrgnh]

Do you plan to start out in the intro mechanics class? What is your background?

 

[Highway]

Do you plan to start out in the intro mechanics class? What is your background?

This. I think most schools start the core classes after calc based physics 2 (e&m / waves, opticks, motion).

 

[truman]

I've only had calc based phyics, I&II. We did not do optics or relativity, just mechanics and some e&m, and motion.

I wanted to review those subjects, do optics and (basic) relativity, basically this whole text. I just don't want to get to a new school and instead of deriving a very basic formula, they're integrating some huge formula with CAS. I can figure that out, I just want to be prepared.

 

[Highway]

I've only had calc based phyics, I&II. We did not do optics or relativity, just mechanics and some e&m, and motion.

I wanted to review those subjects, do optics and (basic) relativity, basically this whole text. I just don't want to get to a new school and instead of deriving a very basic formula, they're integrating some huge formula with CAS. I can figure that out, I just want to be prepared.

you'll be fine, email a professor or someone in the undergrad dept to be safe.

 

[brocks]

Most freshman physics texts are written with the expectation that students are taking calculus concurrently, i.e. they don't know much calculus the first few weeks. They start out very gently with the math, but it will ramp up.

If you go here
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/8-01-physics-i-fall-2003/syllabus/
you will see that Young and Freedman was used in the freshman physics class at MIT not very long ago. So assuming your school isn't a lot harder than MIT, you should be fine.

That site should also give you some good practice exams, and it also has video lectures (based on a different text, I think).