What textbooks correspond to what courses?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around identifying appropriate textbooks corresponding to various physics courses throughout a bachelor's and master's degree program. Participants share their experiences and seek guidance on how to navigate course listings and textbook selections effectively.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Homework-related

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses a desire to self-teach physics and math, seeking a comprehensive understanding of what topics will be covered throughout their degree.
  • Another participant suggests checking university websites for course syllabi and textbook lists, emphasizing the importance of understanding course structures.
  • A participant notes the confusion caused by different course codes (e.g., "phys 22" vs "phys 2B") and shares their method of researching specific classes at various universities.
  • There is mention of core topics typically covered in undergraduate physics, including classical mechanics, electromagnetism, waves, thermodynamics, and more advanced topics for graduate studies.
  • One participant questions the lack of university bookstores and discusses how students now order textbooks online, indicating a shift in how educational materials are accessed.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the best approach to find textbooks or the specific courses offered, as they share differing experiences and methods of research.

Contextual Notes

Participants highlight the variability in course naming conventions and the organization of university websites, which may affect the ease of finding relevant information.

Frozen Light
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I want to teach myself physics and math -

I'm currently halfway through my first year in physics, but I hate riding the magic gravy train where my professors spoon feed me little bits of information - where there's some stuff I won't see for a year or two even though physics isn't necessarily linear like that.

SO. I want to know WHAT I'm going to learn. So that I can look up textbooks and syllabi so that I can at the very least expose myself to everything before I get to it.

I'm continuing to google but I figured this site would be a good place to ask

My one example would be

Physics - first year - "University Physics - Young and Freedman" or "Physics - Randall d. knight"
Classical Mechanics \ Thermodynamics \ Waves Optics \ Electricity Magnetism

What does that look like for the rest of a bachelors? For a masters? Any place I can find out?
 
Last edited:
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If you're already at a university, go to its website and look up the courses you'll be taking in order to complete a physics major. You'll probably also find syllabi and textbook lists on the physics department's or individual professors' web pages.

If you're not at a university yet, pick one (or more) that you might end up going to, and check their web sites.
 
I've been doing that, but "phys 22" vs "phys 2B" vs "Phys 22b" Doesn't tell me anything useful. I've been going through and googling "Class (phys 22) @ University (X)" one at a time and that's working though.

So far I see that it's pretty much
Classical mechanics \ Electromagnetism \ Waves - Optics \ Thermodynamics \ Symmetry ? \ special relativity \ relativity \ fluid dynamics \ condensed matter \ subatomic particles

and that everything else is graduate

I'm mostly interested in a person's why here in particular.
 
Last edited:
Frozen Light said:
I've been doing that, but "phys 22" vs "phys 2B" vs "Phys 22b"

There should be course listings with actual names and descriptions. Instead of using Google, start from the top of a university website and work your way down to the physics department pages. Different universities lay out their sites differently, so you'll probably have to explore a bit.
 
Frozen Light said:
I've been doing that, but "phys 22" vs "phys 2B" vs "Phys 22b" Doesn't tell me anything useful. I've been going through and googling "Class (phys 22) @ University (X)" one at a time and that's working though.

So far I see that it's pretty much
Classical mechanics \ Electromagnetism \ Waves - Optics \ Thermodynamics \ Symmetry ? \ special relativity \ relativity \ fluid dynamics \ condensed matter \ subatomic particles

and that everything else is graduate

I'm mostly interested in a person's why here in particular.

Your school doesn't have a university bookstore?

Zz.
 
The small college where I work no longer has a bookstore, just a small store that sells college-branded items like sweatshirts. Students order their books online through a third-party vendor that faculty submit their textbook lists to, or from amazon.com.

Larger schools probably still have bookstores, but they're probably not getting nearly as much business as they used to.
 

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