Physics! Boooo....

[QueHuong]

Need a good book recommendation for physics. I'm taking "General Physics" 201 - it's the one for engineering majors.

We are using this book (Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday).

I've only started physics this quarter so I don't know if I'll do well yet - but I certainly did crappy in my high school physics class.

Amazon reviews said the book is too formula driven.

So do you guys have any recommendations for a physics book that is for calc based physics that provide solid foundations in both the concepts and math aspects of physics?


And any tips on how to do well in this class? I hear it's an ass-rape class at my college. No one got higher than a B in it last year.

 

[Heisenberg]

We used "Physics for Scientists and Engineers" by Paul A. Tipler for my engineering physics I and II classes. It's a good book IMHO.

 

[rgwalt]

Are you planning on being an engineer? If so, what kind? If you are having trouble in your general physics course, and you are majoring in a field like mechanical engineering, be sure and get help early, because it will only get worse.

Ryan

 

[mAdD INDIAN]

Originally posted by: MindStorm
Need a good book recommendation for physics. I'm taking "General Physics" 201 - it's the one for engineering majors.

We are using this book (Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday).

I've only started physics this quarter so I don't know if I'll do well yet - but I certainly did crappy in my high school physics class.

Amazon reviews said the book is too formula driven.

So do you guys have any recommendations for a physics book that is for calc based physics that provide solid foundations in both the concepts and math aspects of physics?


And any tips on how to do well in this class? I hear it's an ass-rape class at my college. No one got higher than a B in it last year.

I have hte 6th edition of that book..except its Part 3. It only has the chapters that deal wth electricity and magnetism.

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Originally posted by: Heisenberg
We used "Physics for Scientists and Engineers" by Paul A. Tipler for my engineering physics I and II classes. It's a good book IMHO.

We used that one in CEGEP... it's passable but no better. We used Kleppner and Kolenkow last semester in my classical mech class. It's a better book IMHO, though it's definitely more mathematical and higher level then Tippler.

 

[Darien]

Originally posted by: Heisenberg
We used "Physics for Scientists and Engineers" by Paul A. Tipler for my engineering physics I and II classes. It's a good book IMHO.

Here they use the same book for the normal engineering/science track. With the advanced sequence, Physics by Ohanian is used for mechanics & e&m, and Quantum Physics by Eisberg is used for the 3rd course in the sequence (quantum mechanics).



The Tipler book has quite a bit of examples, but IMO the Ohanian one is better -- Physics uses Calculus rigorously, and generally most of the problems in Ohanian are a bit more difficult than Tipler's because of this. Questions in general are also more difficult.



(However, the Ohanian book doesn't go really "deep." In class, the professor is generally talking about lots more advanced subjects -- the hw in the Ohanian book is weak compared to some of the problems he made up. You probably won't need to get to this level though. Depending on your engineering discipline, you'll get to a few aspects of Physics in your respected eng. class)

 

[AznMaverick]

Originally posted by: Heisenberg
We used "Physics for Scientists and Engineers" by Paul A. Tipler for my engineering physics I and II classes. It's a good book IMHO.

w3rd to that!

 

[Omegachi]

Originally posted by: AznMaverick

Originally posted by: Heisenberg
We used "Physics for Scientists and Engineers" by Paul A. Tipler for my engineering physics I and II classes. It's a good book IMHO.

w3rd to that!

Yep, Tipler is the man!

 

[Siddhartha]

Do the problems, then do the problems, and do the problems again.

 

[QueHuong]

Are you planning on being an engineer? If so, what kind? If you are having trouble in your general physics course, and you are majoring in a field like mechanical engineering, be sure and get help early, because it will only get worse.

I'm a biomedical engineering mechanics major - so there's of a lot of mechanical engineering in my major.

Do the problems, then do the problems, and do the problems again.

That's what my engineering uncle says. "Do all the problems. Not just the problems recommended by the professor. All of it." HOLY HELL! There's an average of 60-80 problems per chapter. And I take about an hour to do 3 difficult problems Both you and my uncle are crazy.

So does practicing on physics problem really help you to understand the concepts? I'm sure if I do enough problems, I will memorize to know how to do similar problems on the test. What I'm going for is to understand the concepts for problems that will allow me to solves ones that do not superficially resemble homework problems.

 

[majewski9]

OMG 140$ geezus! I hate physics so I couldnt tell you.

 

[Yossarian]

That was a decent physics book when I used it (earlier edition, circa 1991). We had a cool prof though, one of the few guys who didn't use a mic in an enormous lecture hall of 400 kids. This was at RPI. He used to do fun Mr. Wizard-type experiments... one time he hung a bowling ball from the rafters with a 50 foot line, then walked with it to the end of the room and with the line taut held the ball up to his face. Then he released it to show that because of conservation of energy and friction the ball wouldn't smash him in the head when it swung back.