Our server costs ~$56 per month to run. Please consider donating or becoming a Patron to help keep the site running. Help us gain new members by following us on Twitter and liking our page on Facebook!
Current time: December 3, 2024, 6:51 am

Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Teaching myself physics, is this a futile attempt?
#11
RE: Teaching myself physics, is this a futile attempt?
(June 13, 2012 at 7:53 am)Tempus Wrote: I spent most of my high school and college years trying to do everything, all the while accomplishing nothing. Now that I've accepted I can only do so much I'm less stressed out. I still have many of the possessions that tell the tale of a fool who thought he could master everything; they're reminders, I guess.

It isn't really a trying to do everything affair, I don't really have that much to do otherwise and it'll probably be a summer holidays thing Tongue I think the biggest issue there would be is the complexity of it and the amount of work I'd need to do. Alas, we are all disposed to try and do as much as possib

(June 13, 2012 at 7:53 am)Tempus Wrote: I spent most of my high school and college years trying to do everything, all the while accomplishing nothing. Now that I've accepted I can only do so much I'm less stressed out. I still have many of the possessions that tell the tale of a fool who thought he could master everything; they're reminders, I guess.

It isn't really a trying to do everything affair, I don't really have that much to do otherwise and it'll probably be a summer holidays thing Tongue I think the biggest issue there would be is the complexity of it and the amount of work I'd need to do. Alas, we are all disposed to try and do as much as possibl
Religion is an attempt to answer the philosophical questions of the unphilosophical man.
Reply
#12
RE: Teaching myself physics, is this a futile attempt?
I have to recommend Roger Penrose's The Road To Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe as a guide for your endeavor. He spends much of his preface providing an explanation why he thought the inclusion of the underlying mathematics critical to his book. I also like the organization.

Each chapter has its own notes pages. The bibiliography is 35 pages long. Penrose also includes, where possible, article id's to be used at arXiv.org. arXiv.org: " Open access to 762,411 e-prints in Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Quantitative Biology, Quantitative Finance and Statistics"
Reply
#13
RE: Teaching myself physics, is this a futile attempt?
There are free, whole physics courses from top notch universities on the internet.

http://www.udacity.com/overview/Course/p...ourseRev/1

https://www.coursera.org/course/qcomp

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/8-01-...-lectures/

I only took a few physics courses, so I would prioritize the responses of others if they contest this, but reading the textbook(s) and doing all the problems is enough to do well on exams. Most students do not read every chapter from start to finish. They attend lectures and do part of the reading assignments. If you read all the chapters of a textbook, you would be ahead of most students. You might not be able to access all the expensive lab equipment a local school has, but I am sure you can still learn most of the concepts that the lab is intended to demonstrate.
[Image: questionc.jpg]
Reply
#14
RE: Teaching myself physics, is this a futile attempt?
(June 13, 2012 at 1:39 pm)cato123 Wrote: I have to recommend Roger Penrose's The Road To Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe as a guide for your endeavor. He spends much of his preface providing an explanation why he thought the inclusion of the underlying mathematics critical to his book. I also like the organization.

Each chapter has its own notes pages. The bibiliography is 35 pages long. Penrose also includes, where possible, article id's to be used at arXiv.org. arXiv.org: " Open access to 762,411 e-prints in Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Quantitative Biology, Quantitative Finance and Statistics"

I've got that book, the contents look intimidating, to say the least.
If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. - J.R.R Tolkien
Reply
#15
RE: Teaching myself physics, is this a futile attempt?
Just wanted to share another free resource. Not just physics.

http://www.khanacademy.org
Reply



Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Physics Puzzle onlinebiker 32 2919 July 21, 2020 at 4:07 am
Last Post: zebo-the-fat
  Physics questions ignoramus 21 2430 May 9, 2019 at 6:27 pm
Last Post: Anomalocaris
  Quantum Physics Craziness! LadyForCamus 19 2617 October 12, 2017 at 2:26 pm
Last Post: Jehanne
  The Physics of Guinness thesummerqueen 23 8287 September 2, 2017 at 8:25 am
Last Post: LastPoet
  Teaching the Big bang theory to Preschoolers GeorgiasTelescope 5 1850 June 24, 2017 at 6:22 pm
Last Post: Fidel_Castronaut
  Does Physics now have a complete description of Nature? Jehanne 32 5329 April 10, 2017 at 11:14 am
Last Post: dyresand
  I have a layman's theory about quantum physics "spookiness" Won2blv 15 3209 March 5, 2017 at 11:15 am
Last Post: Won2blv
  SMASH Theory Claims to Solve 5 Major Questions of Physics AFTT47 0 1331 February 20, 2017 at 10:14 pm
Last Post: AFTT47
  Physics Nobel 2016 Alex K 8 2189 October 4, 2016 at 11:33 am
Last Post: Jackalope
  Physics questions about light bennyboy 10 2878 September 20, 2016 at 9:26 pm
Last Post: bennyboy



Users browsing this thread: 2 Guest(s)