What are the prerequisites to studying quantum mechanics?

[John_Diala]

Hi. I'm currently in high school, and ever since my physics teacher brought up quantum mechanics, I've been highly intrigued by it. I understand (at least I think I do!) the general basics of it, like Schrödinger's cat, wave function collapse and quantum entanglement, but I don't understand the harder concepts. Any ideas on where I should start, both in mathematics and physics? I can do calculus up to calc 2 and conceptually understand some parts of real/complex analysis and linear algebra, and for physics I think I understand classical mechanics and the basic concepts of general relativity, but other than that, I'm lost.

(Yes, I'm a bit of nerd if you hadn't already noticed. lol).

EDIT: I just realized I should have posted this in the qm section. My bad.

 

[Simon Bridge]

Welcome to PF;
Students do not normally specialize in QM until their second year at University.

The more practiced you are at using math as a language the better though.

At senior HS level, you will need Physics, and Calculus as a minimum.
You should also take Statistics and Algebra courses.
Don't sweat it though - you only need to be "grounded" in these subjects, you don't have to be a wizz.

Beware of pop-sciencey sources or anyone who wants to show how QM is weird and counter-intuitive: they tend to try too hard to emphasize the "woo-wee" factor at the expense of the science.