Which textbook should I use for self studying calc-based physics?

[xerz]

TL;DR: I need help picking out a textbook out of the "big 3"

Hello! I have the option of using:
Raymond A. Serway, John W. Jewett - Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics
Fundamentals of Physics, Volume 2, 12th Edition 2 -- David Halliday & Robert Resnick & Jearl Walker
University Physics with Modern Physics with Hugh D Young, Roger A Freedman, A Lewis Ford, Francis Weston 12th Edition, 2007

I'm primarily using it to self study Physics II to help me refine my understanding, as I'm in 12th grade.
I've went through Electric Fields / Gauss's Law / Potential with all books, and I cannot decide which one is better. On one hand, Serway has less problems but I found it to be still quite comprehensive, while Halliday had many more problems, but I cannot tell if there is more content being presented or if there are just more examples.

 

[CrysPhys]

TL;DR: I need help picking out a textbook out of the "big 3"

Hello! I have the option of using:
Raymond A. Serway, John W. Jewett - Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics
Fundamentals of Physics, Volume 2, 12th Edition 2 -- David Halliday & Robert Resnick & Jearl Walker
University Physics with Modern Physics with Hugh D Young, Roger A Freedman, A Lewis Ford, Francis Weston 12th Edition, 2007

I'm primarily using it to self study Physics II to help me refine my understanding, as I'm in 12th grade.
I've went through Electric Fields / Gauss's Law / Potential with all books, and I cannot decide which one is better. On one hand, Serway has less problems but I found it to be still quite comprehensive, while Halliday had many more problems, but I cannot tell if there is more content being presented or if there are just more examples.

In your specific scenario, assuming you have access to all three, use all three. No harm in that; and you'll get the benefit of different perspectives and teaching styles. After a while, if you clearly prefer one, or clearly dislike one, you'll be in the best position to decide which work best for yourself.

Or do you have to decide now which one textbook to buy?

 

[kuruman]

I have used all three in the calculus-based introductory courses that I taught at university level and found them all satisfactory. My opinion is that if you master all the material in any one of them, you have gotten the background you need to move on beyond the introductory level.

Also, as someone engaged in self-study, you should know that no course covers the entire textbook in a standard, one-semester, 14-week college or university course. Not everything in a textbook is as important as everything else. There are always sections of chapters that are omitted not because they are irrelevant but because one cannot learn everything all at once. One needs to build a basic foundation and then fill in the details later as needed.

I think your question should not be "Which textbook should I choose?", but "What are the basic chapters and/or sections in a textbook to concentrate on and attempt to master?" The answer to that question depends on why you are self-studying and how much time you have to do it all in.

 

[xerz]

I have used all three in the calculus-based introductory courses that I taught at university level and found them all satisfactory. My opinion is that if you master all the material in any one of them, you have gotten the background you need to move on beyond the introductory level.

Also, as someone engaged in self-study, you should know that no course covers the entire textbook in a standard, one-semester, 14-week college or university course. Not everything in a textbook is as important as everything else. There are always sections of chapters that are omitted not because they are irrelevant but because one cannot learn everything all at once. One needs to build a basic foundation and then fill in the details later as needed.

I think your question should not be "Which textbook should I choose?", but "What are the basic chapters and/or sections in a textbook to concentrate on and attempt to master?" The answer to that question depends on why you are self-studying and how much time you have to do it all in.

I like this ideology, and I've gotten a similar answer from many, so I'll likely just learn the concepts from the textbook that is most convenient, and then do problems from all 3, depending on what my goals are.

Additionally, the question "What are the basic chapters and/or sections in a textbook to concentrate on and attempt to master?" is quite relevant to me. Currently I've been learning electric fields, Gauss's law, and potential. Because it is my first time incorporating calculus and physics, it is definitely more enjoyable, especially with the questions being usually straightforward rather than riddle-like.

Also, as somebody who is also self studying, how do you go about figuring out if you've become proficient at a certain section? Without a teacher, it's quite difficult to determine if you've got the concepts down, since you don't have a teacher who grades your work. And do you go out of your way trying to solve all the different types of problems you see, or do you just do the main ones (like for electric fields, continuous charge distributions on common shapes such as rings, circles, cylinders, rods, plates, etc...). In other words, do you go out of your way to try to know it all?

Thanks for the response.

 

[xerz]

In your specific scenario, assuming you have access to all three, use all three. No harm in that; and you'll get the benefit of different perspectives and teaching styles. After a while, if you clearly prefer one, or clearly dislike one, you'll be in the best position to decide which work best for yourself.

Or do you have to decide now which one textbook to buy?

Okay! That sounds good. I have the Young & Freedman 12th edition physically, but I also have online copies of the others, so there is no mandatory book to use. I was just not sure if there were meaningful differences in them; such as if the problems in one are too easy and don't set you up for success, or the other way around. But it turns out that they are all relatively the same, and I even see duplicate problems that look "infamous" which leads me to believe that those are the high priority problems.

 

[MatinSAR]

You prioritize concepts? Go with Halliday. Or if you care more about the mathematics, go with University Physics. But a lot of things must be learned by yourself after thinking deeply about what is happening in this problem or what a concept is. Let me provide an example in EM since you wanna start learning it...
AFAIK, none of the above books will directly tell you why you cannot simply integrate over dE, and instead must integrate over $\vec {dE}$ or $dE_{x}$.

 

[xerz]

You prioritize concepts? Go with Halliday. Or if you care more about the mathematics, go with University Physics. But a lot of things must be learned by yourself after thinking deeply about what is happening in this problem or what a concept is. Let me provide an example in EM since you wanna start learning it...
AFAIK, none of the above books will directly tell you why you cannot simply integrate over dE, and instead must integrate over $\vec {dE}$ or $dE_{x}$.

I'd say I prioritize a bit of both. For background, I'm planning on pursuing engineering, so I don't think I need all the nitty gritty physics or math stuff (like analysis, i dont think, i might be wrong)

 

[MatinSAR]

I'd say I prioritize a bit of both. For background, I'm planning on pursuing engineering, so I don't think I need all the nitty gritty physics or math stuff (like analysis, i dont think, i might be wrong)

As a physics student, I preferred Halliday's book and did not read the other two. But for an engineering field, I am not sure which is better, so I recommend waiting for others' advice. My final advice would be not to waste extra time trying to find the best book out there...

 

[kuruman]

Also, as somebody who is also self studying, how do you go about figuring out if you've become proficient at a certain section?

Try to solve the problems pertinent to that section. Some textbooks have rankings of difficulty. Choose the "hard" ones, usually near the end of the list of problems, that are not merely "plug and chug". Can you do them? If not, find out what it is that you missed or misunderstood that prevented you from finishing the problem.

If you still cannot figure it out on your own, what do you think Physics Forums is for? Go to the Introductory Physics Homework forum, state the problem that you are trying to solve, show us what you have done up to that point and we will diagnose where you went wrong, what you missed, what you should know, etc. and guide you through the path to the solution.

 

[xerz]

Okay! Thank you! I've been doing a couple of H problems but it looks like i'll do more of them, since there arent that many to begin with. Additionally, there's a section with "additional problems" but they don't have a difficulty ranking; does that mean the ones at the last page are usually the hardest?

 

[kuruman]

Yes, usually the "Additional Problems" at the end of a chapter combine topics and concepts presented in more than one sections of the same chapter and often require understanding of previous chapters. I would say do about 3-4 problems from each section and then try a couple of additional problems and see how that works for you.

As you do these problems, it is important to keep asking yourself "what am I learning from this?" If the answer is "Not much", then skip this problem and go to another one. The problems that seem hard to you are the only problems worth attempting.