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Patterns in Mathematics: Problem Solving from Counting to Chaos (Mathematics)
Jack R. McCown , and
Michael A. Sequeira
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ASIN: 0534187862 |
Book Description
275,000 students in noncalculus physics; Required pre-med course; Super-accessible, straightforward help; Student-grabbing graphics and style; Icons for important concepts; 1-2-3 help with problems.
Customer Reviews:
Buy this book as a supplement to your textbook.......2004-07-23
Other than a few typos, this book is awesome. I learn the basic concepts from this book, and then do the problems in my textbook. This book has helped me when my professor couldn't/wouldn't. You cannot learn physics from this book only, but it is an excellent addition to any textbook.
Decent book - many errors.......2000-07-06
This book is a decent book for those being taking a freshman physics course for non-majors. This is a good supplement to a calculus based physics textbook.
typographical errors.......2000-03-08
it's a good book, it helped a great deal. I wish time was taken to correct typographical errors. I lost valuable time that could have been used to study.
Very helpful, recommend.......2000-01-17
this is a very good book except there are some mistakes(but the mistakes are easily found and corrected by yourself). This book gives you how to attack problems in a very organized manner even though the problems are not so difficult. I came to be able to solve more challenging problems in a different book after solving the easy but organized ones in this book. I recommend this book!
This Is The Book If You Need Help with Physics.......2000-01-17
Beginning with the "How To Use This Book" and "How To Excel in Your Physics Course", (especially the latter) and throughout its pages, this is, without a doubt in this readers opinion, the very best book on the subject I have found to date (And I have many). It puts you through the paces. If you want to know this subject and excel in it, these authors have placed before you the practice you will need. I recommend this book highly for your first experiences in this subject. Starting with the mathematical background required; then on to Classical through Special Relativity. It covers each and every topic, in a clear, concise method that enhances learning and improves retention greatly in each and every area. It's a great reference to have on the shelf. EXCELLENT! My thanks to the authors. Your book has helped me much more than I ever expected.
Book Description
Solved Problem Series
These books help readers review and master what they've learned by showing them how to solve thousands of relevant problems. Perfect for preparing for graduate or professional exams, these detailed reminders of problem-solving techniques show readers the best strategies for answering even the toughest questions, including the types that appear on typical tests.
Customer Reviews:
Simply Excellent.......2007-06-24
I bought this book to help my daughter with her physics class. I just wanted to help her practice with a few of the easier problems given that she is still in high school. Surprisingly, I found the book better in comparison to the problems given in her actual textbook. Obviously, one cannot learn physics from scratch by doing these problems alone. Some initial instruction is required. However, once the basic concepts of physics are learned, this in turn becomes an excellent practice guide in order to master the topics covered. No matter what your level of acheivement is, this book will help you get to the next level. I wish I had found this book a lot sooner.
Amazing book, the naysayers are clueless about its real method ..........2007-03-05
I never bought this book, because every time I looked at it on the shelf I quickly flipped through it, and every time decided it was full of too-simple problems, essentially just the plug & chug variety, not really much to be gained by a physics student.
But my dad had bought it to study for some engineering problems he was working on, and he didn't need it, so I grabbed it, and tucked it away for a few months.
Then I gave myself the goal of working through all 3000 problems, about 25 each night. I had hoped it would help me get better at doing these kind of problems in my head and improve my accuracy, which desperately needed improving.
Here's the deal with this book ... YES it does start with problems so simple that a high-schooler can do them, and then it drills those concepts over and over, but while that's happening, Halpern gradually increases the difficulty of the problems. For all of those people that insult this book as not challenging, I'll wager they would have a hard time with many of the problems by chapter end, at which point Halpern has developed an increasingly complex problem set. And amazingly, after working all the exercises, the problem-solver can handle many or most of them.
It's like that old movie Karate Kid, where the Ralph Machio character gets mad at his teacher for making him paint the fence all day, and then his teacher shows him that all his work has actually done something.
Halpern tells you this at the beginning of the book, that the his method will make you a "master of the art -- and should do so if used properly." The proper way of course, it to struggle with the problems that are a little harder before you are tempted to peek at the answer. (I use a folded paper to cover the answer while I look at the problem.)
If you are preparing or trying to learn all of physics, then you should skip around from chapter to chapter, rather than trying to work through a chapter at a time. This helps you synthesize a variety of information better.
There are a few typos and a few errors, but they are pretty easy to catch. And the redundancy of the problems makes errors less critical anyway.
(Halpern was a professor at my school for my MA in physics, City University of New York, although I never met him. I would like to meet him someday for helping me to become a master, although I still have a long way to go.)
PERFECT.......2007-01-13
Just like it was 30 years ago. Plenty of solved problems to self learn Physics.
Schaum's Solve Problems.......2006-11-06
The information in this problem book are many and some pertain to all physics have similar concepts in the way Alvin Halpen,PH.D has structure this book. Yet, for the newcomer in Physics will not easily understand. This book for resource and problems is fair!But not recommended!
A terrific learning aid!.......2006-07-08
This book has exactly what it says in the title. The problems are well-chosen, and the detailed solutions are written in a way that really aids learning. (The "canned" solutions for many textbooks are full of references to obscure equations that are worked out in the chapter, and so promote a "flip through the pages hunting for the right equation" method of problem solving, which does not lead to strong problem solving competency. In contrast, the solutions in this book start from fundamental equations, the approach used by most good teachers, at least at the college and university level, and they are very well-written.)
There are no explicit review sections, so that this is a supplement to a regular text, rather than a replacement for it. (Review of some particularly difficult concepts _is_ covered via the mechanism of essay-style questions.)
Of course, to get the benefit of this text, you must try to work the problems on your own, before looking at the solutions. This is the best textbook supplement I've yet seen -- buy it, work as many of the problems as you possibly can, and it will _really_ help!
(This review written by a college physics prof.)
Book Description
In order to equip hopeful graduate students with the knowledge necessary to pass the qualifying examination, the authors have assembled and solved standard and original problems from major American universities – Boston University, University of Chicago, University of Colorado at Boulder, Columbia, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, Michigan State, Michigan Tech, MIT, Princeton, Rutgers, Stanford, Stony Brook, University of Wisconsin at Madison – and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. A wide range of material is covered and comparisons are made between similar problems of different schools to provide the student with enough information to feel comfortable and confident at the exam.
Guide to Physics Problems is published in two volumes: this book,
Part 1, covers Mechanics, Relativity and Electrodynamics;
Part 2 covers Thermodynamics, Statistical Mechanics and Quantum Mechanics.
Praise for
A Guide to Physics Problems: Part 1: Mechanics, Relativity, and Electrodynamics:
"Sidney Cahn and Boris Nadgorny have energetically collected and presented solutions to about 140 problems from the exams at many universities in the United States and one university in Russia, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Some of the problems are quite easy, others are quite tough; some are routine, others ingenious." (From the Foreword by C. N. Yang, Nobelist in Physics, 1957)
"Generations of graduate students will be grateful for its existence as they prepare for this major hurdle in their careers." (R. Shankar, Yale University)
"The publication of the volume should be of great help to future candidates who must pass this type of exam." (J. Robert Schrieffer, Nobelist in Physics, 1972)
"I was positively impressed … The book will be useful to students who are studying for their examinations and to faculty who are searching for appropriate problems." (M. L. Cohen, University of California at Berkeley)
"If a student understands how to solve these problems, they have gone a long way toward mastering the subject matter." (Martin Olsson, University of Wisconsin at Madison)
"This book will become a necessary study guide for graduate students while they prepare for their Ph.D. examination. It will become equally useful for the faculty who write the questions." (G. D. Mahan, University of Tennessee at Knoxville)
Customer Reviews:
classical physics quals.......2004-10-22
I used this book to pass my classical physics quals at caltech. See my review of Cahn's quantum problem book for details, and why I think this is better than Yung-kuo.
The difference with the classical one is that there were a few concepts I had to study that were not really in the book. Overall though, I still thought that this was a great collection of problems. If I had just done the problems in this book and nothing else, I probably still would have passed.
Great book for all budding physicists.......2001-09-25
This book is rather elementary for the graduate level, but does a great job at explaining concepts clearly, concisely, and eloquently, using laymen terms where appropriate. I also deeply appreciate the occasional comedy implemented by the author. I would personally recommend "The Essential Collection of Elegant Solutions for Doctoral Physics Qualifying Exams," by Shijun Liu (2000).
A excellent collection of intriguing physics problems.......1999-10-08
This book contains physics problems from many great universities and is a must for all students in Physics. The problems are all very original and the solutions given are very elegant. I will recommend this book to all people who enjoy solving Physics problems.
good.......1999-03-10
Relativity Par
Book Description
This comprehensive textbook utilizes Green's functions and the equations derived from them to solve real physical problems in solid-state theoretical physics. Green's functions are used to describe processes in solids and quantum fluids and to address problems in areas such as electron gas, polarons, electron transport, optical response, superconductivity and superfluidity.
The updated third edition features several new chapters on different mean-free paths, Hubbard model, Coulomb blockade, and the quantum Hall effect. New sections have been added, while original sections have been modified to include recent applications.
This text is ideal for third- or fourth-year graduate students and includes numerous study problems and an extensive bibliography.
Customer Reviews:
Good book but so much money.......2006-07-22
This book is massive and covers a huge spectrum of material. Probably not cost effective in comparison to Fetter and Walecka unless you get it for under eighty bucks. I enjoyed it quite a bit until the Postal Service stole it from me.
Containing too many misprints........2001-11-19
Unfortunately, the 3rd edition of Mahan's book contains enormous number of misprints. Sometimes, it is impossible to understand what is meant by the author without consulting the previous edition. For example, in Sec. 4.1.5. the author refers in the text to the equation which apparently should be between Eqs. (4.126) and (4.127) but which had been omitted. At the same time, some evident drawbacks of the previous edition have not been corrected. For example, the definition of the thermodynamic average used in Sec. 3.6 is different from that used in the previous sections, although it is not mentioned in the text. Despite the book is an excellent introduction into the field of Many-Particle Physics, I would recommend to the customer to either buy the previous edition or to wait for a new one.
Bien detaille, comprehensible........1999-03-16
Un excellent livre sur un sujet d'actualite. G. Mahan discute de nombreuses en detaillant a chaque fois les etapes necessaires et en ne negligeant pas les explications ni les liens entre les differentes theories. Vu le prix, courez a votre bibliotheque pour vous le procurer!
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- Circuits
- textbook standard
- Definately not introductory text
- decent materials but bad binding
- Excellent supplemental textbook on circuit analysis and design topics
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Schaum's Outline of Electric Circuits
Mahmood Nahvi , and
Joseph A. Edminister
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Similar Items:
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Schaum's Outline of Basic Circuit Analysis
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Schaum's Outline of Electronic Devices and Circuits, Second Edition
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3,000 Solved Problems in Electrical Circuits
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Schaum's Outline of Electromagnetics
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Schaum's Outline of Signals and Systems
ASIN: 0071393072 |
Book Description
This new edition of Schaum's Outline of Electric Circuits give readers a thorough foundation in the theory and operation of electric circuits. This bestselling outline combines brief descriptions of theory with illustrative examples, solved problems, and supplement problems to provide a direct and effective tool and methodology for learning.
Download Description
This new edition of Schaum's Outline of Electric Circuits give readers a thorough foundation in the theory and operation of electric circuits. This bestselling outline combines brief descriptions of theory with illustrative examples, solved problems, and supplement problems to provide a direct and effective tool and methodology for learning.
Customer Reviews:
Circuits.......2007-09-25
This book covers the first two levels of Engineering classes on circuit analysis. A great study aid and test prep.
textbook standard.......2007-09-20
This is the book that should be made as textbook for ECE textbook, instead of all those big, fat, and expensive ones. ECE textbooks should be like this! precise, to-the-point, clarity, lots of detailed examples! I hate schools that just want to make more profit from students by having them to buy those new expensive books. of course, there's no way to cover all those materials in those kinds of books.
Definately not introductory text.......2006-11-30
I gave it 4-stars because I can't really judge it, so I didn't want to affect the ratings already established. That said, I should have looked closer before purchasing it. I got about 1/3 of the way through an EE course in Community College before leaving to start my own business. So I was looking for a book to help me relearn and move forward on circuits since I still have alot of ideas. This is not it!!! The third paragraph in the book discusses plane angles and radians. It would not be fair to say the book assumes you have a knowledge of EE, it requires it.
So just don't make the same mistake I did.
decent materials but bad binding.......2006-10-16
The book itself is a decent collection of practice problems. However, I ended up with a copy that was stiched together improperly. For some reason, the first 32 pages appears twice, skipping the the second 32 pages of the book such that parts of chapter 3 and all of chapter 4 are completely missing. I couldn't return the item due to the policy of the seller regarding books lik Shaum's, but I was given the publisher's phone number. Let's hope I can get this resolved satisfactorily.
Excellent supplemental textbook on circuit analysis and design topics.......2006-07-22
This is an excellent study guide for electrical engineering students that will serve them well in their two-semester DC circuits sequence, linear circuits, electronic circuit design sequence, and power circuits. It is another one of those Schaum's outlines that is clear and complete enough to double as a textbook on the topic of circuit analysis and design. It starts out defining basic electric circuit concepts and terms such as potential, charge, current, resistance, capacitance, and inductance. It then moves on to circuit laws and then circuit analysis methods. It then explains the amplifier model in terms of components that have already been defined, and from there describes the operational amplifier and shows how to design using this device. The chapter on waveforms and signals is an excellent one, and is a topic often overlooked and shortchanged in most electrical engineering textbooks. The chapters on first-order and higher-order circuits do an excellent job of venturing into the world of linear RLC circuits and shows how to use calculus and differential equations to solve for the voltage and current equations of these types of circuits. Included also are more direct methods of analysis including complex frequency and pole-zero plots. The next major topic to be broached is that of analysis and design of power circuits. This is an often ignored subject in the electrical engineering curriculum, and the two chapters are good foundations on the topic. Besides just explaining polyphase power circuits, the outline actually takes the time to explain why such circuits are desirable when power generation is the goal. The next three chapters do some clean up on miscellaneous circuit analysis and design topics - frequency response, two-port networks and their characteristics, and mutual inductance and transformers, which is the basis of courses on electromechanical machines. The chapter on mutual inductance is the weakest chapter in the book, with less explanation than in the rest of the outline. There is a good chapter on using the industry standard Spice and PSpice software for circuit design. The final two chapters are applied chapters on the Laplace and Fourier transforms and their use in circuit analysis and design. For those whose basic mathematics may be rusty, the appendices cover basic matrix algebra and the mathematics of complex numbers.
I used the first edition of this outline in the late 70's to help iron out concepts that were not clearly presented in my undergraduate textbooks. I kept it around over the years to serve as a reference. I just recently upgraded to the current fourth edition, and the subject matter and organization of material has changed over the years but not the high quality of the content. I highly recommend this outline to undergraduate electrical engineering students who want a high quality supplemental textbook that will serve them from their sophomore year until graduation. One reviewer lamented that there were quite a few errors in the solved problem sections. However, this review was very old - 1999 I believe - and was written before this current fourth edition was written. I have not found any errors in the solutions so far, so apparently this latest edition has cleared up that past problem.
Book Description
Help students master real-world problems as they develop new insight into the physical sciences
Problems in the physical sciences that once baffled and frustrated scientists can now be solved easily with the aid of a computer. Computers can quickly complete complex calculations, provide numerical simulations of natural systems, and explore the unknown. Computational Physics shows students how to use computers to solve scientific problems and understand systems at a level previously possible only in a research environment. Adaptable to a ten-week class or a full-year course, it provides C and Fortran programs that can be modified and rewritten as needed to implement a wide range of computational projects.
Light on theory, heavy on applications, this practical, easy-to-understand guide
* Presents material from a problem-oriented perspective
* Integrates physics, computer science, and numerical methods and statistics
* Encourages creative thinking and an object-oriented view of problem solving
* Provides C and Fortran programs for implementing most of the projects
* Provides samples of problems actually solved in two ten-week quarters
* Includes a 3.5'' floppy disk containing the codes featured in the text
* Offers multimedia demonstrations and updates on a complementary Web site
With this engaging book as a guide, advanced undergraduates and first-year graduate students will gain confidence in their abilities and develop new insight into the physical sciences as they use their computers to address challenging and stimulating problems.
Customer Reviews:
This book is for advanced physics.......2000-10-13
The number of stars I gave the book is basically irrelevant.
I'm writing the review to point out that the book should be called: "computations for *advanced* physics".
Most of the topics covered in the book are for second year physics, or advanced topics. That's neither good nor bad, it just depends what you're looking for. If you want to find ways to apply computer programs in a first-years course -- this ain't it. There are probably only a few cases in which the topics are close enough to first-year physics to be relevant (multiple waves on a string; contrasting an idealized model of a pendulum with a "real-one").
Having said that, I give the book some pluses for covering a wide range of physics and mathematical topics, and a bit of a minus for writing that can be fairly opaque.
Book Description
This new volume contains four previously unpublished lectures that Feynman gave to students preparing for exams. With characteristic insight and humor, Feynman discusses topics readers struggle with and offers valuable tips on solving physics problems. Exercises and answers by R. B. Leighton and R. E. Vogt are also included, along with an illuminating memoir by Matthew Sands. For all readers interested in physics.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Leftovers.......2007-09-15
Different parts of this book will appeal to different readers.
There is a lot of information about how the book came to be published, providing insight into Feynman's style.
There are the actual lectures, delivered mostly to students that were having trouble in the physics class, including the observation, mentioned in another review, that half the students have to be below average, even at Cal Tech.
These can help you improve your physical intuition.
There is a lecture on applied physics, covering gyroscopes and accelerometers
in navigation systems.
The numerical coefficients have probably been improved since then,
but the presentation is excellent.
There is also a collection of problems to practice on.
These seemed much better, much more realistic, much more interesting, than those I solved as a physics minor decades ago.
I hope a culinary analogy will help potential readers understand this book.
Yes this book is a bunch of leftovers.
Some chef's leftovers are better than most cooks' best efforts.
Feynman was a master chef in physics.
rummaging to put together one last [?] book by Feynman.......2007-06-04
Sometimes when a prominent author dies, his estate might authorise someone to go through his notes. In the hope of finding unpublished material that is of enough quality to be published. This could necessitate some editorial or extra authorial assistance. Think perhaps of fiction authors. Where final stories trickle out in the years after their deaths.
Precisely the case here. The 2 other authors of this book, Gottlieb and Leighton, have rummaged through Feynman's records, and found these 4 "lost" lectures. In case you're wondering, his 2 children have approved this venture. As perhaps the last new book you are likely to see with Richard Feynman's name on it.
Of the chapters, the most interesting is really the introduction, that describes the circumstances by which the book came about. The actual physics is well done, of course. But this is not one of Feynman's major works. Let's be clear about it. Think of it as marginalia. An addendum to his Lectures on Physics.
The cover's photo shows him as young and in good health. Unlike when I saw him in his last years, ravaged by cancer.
Feynmann on Physics.......2007-05-14
Firstly, ANYTHING by Richard Feynman is compulsive reading. Having said that I was a little bit disappointed because I was expecting some personal tips on his math techniqes. There is an interesting approach to differentiation and some stuff on numerical integration. There is a great deal on gyroscopes. There is a common sense homily to those who have to face the fact that SOMEONE has to be in the lower quartile of a class, and not to get disturbed by this statistical fact. For the few dollars it costs it is well worth it !
Most useful book.......2007-01-11
I found this book extremely useful and enjoyable to read. I suggest reading this book before starting to read Feynman Lectures.
Tips, and much more.......2007-01-03
Feynman is one of my favorite authors, along with scientists like Gould and Dawkins. I own and have read most of his books, including his lectures on physics. I particularly like his way of teaching, and the way he puts explanations at the student's level. I've spent too much time around bellicose instructors who mistook for knowledge a vocabulary full of multi-syllable words and long tortured sentences; Feynman is their antithesis.
Ralph Leighton and Michael A. Gottlieb are co-authors of "Feynman's Tips on Physics." In addition to editorial work associated with assembling Feynman's lectures, Leighton wrote the Forward, and Gottlieb the Introduction. There's also a Memoir by Matthew Sands describing the origins of the Feynman Lectures on Physics. Leighton and Gottlieb hunted for and found the (nearly lost) tapes and photographs and were the ones who negotiated (for about 5 years) with Caltech, the Feynman heirs and Addison-Wesley to arrange the book's execution. They also edited and illustrated the book.
Feynman's lectures in this book had their genesis in his concern, and among scientists and educators at Caltech, regarding the way they were teaching physics. Feynman's lectures in "Tips on Physics" came about as a consequence of Feynman giving additional help to students, particularly those who were having trouble keeping up. There's more to the book than Feynman's lectures, however, including Matt Sands memoir, and exercises in chapter 5.
While Gottlieb and Leighton are co-authors of "Tips," the part I liked best was purely Feynman. My thanks go to them primarily for making Feynman's teachings more accessible through their historical research into archived material. One of the things I like best about Feynman is his sense of humor. Take, for example, this snippet from page 17:
"...we've found a very serious problem [with grading]: no matter how carefully we select the mean, no matter how patiently we make the analysis, when they [the incoming students at Caltech] get here something happens: it always turns out that approximately half of them are below average!"
This was part of Feynman's explanation to the struggling students, explaining that even though they had been the best and brightest in their high schools, when they all came together half of them were going to be below average for the first time in their lives.
I consider "Tips on Physics" to be a good book, but it's probably the book I like least of all those devoted to Feynman's work. I suppose part of the reason is that the book isn't composed in a particularly logical way, and doesn't flow naturally from foundational concepts to derived topics. That's probably due to the circumstances in which the book was written; it's something of a hodgepodge of lectures given to struggling students, combined with material from the other authors in a form that doesn't flow as well as I'd like, with topics bounce around a bit.
Subjects include vectors (adding, subtracting, line, etc.) and the laws of gravity and motion. There are also solved problems that show how to use these various concepts. The end of the book consists of somewhat lengthy and quite interesting discussions about dynamics, including practical uses of gyroscopes and accelerometers. There's interesting practical material here, including the use of gyroscopes in stabilizing various platforms, and navigational systems using gyroscopes and accelerometers (see figure 4-21 on page 116).
The discussions about gyroscopes were the most interesting to me. These devices represent some of the most amazing mechanical inventions/designs of all time. Combined with accelerometers they form a complete navigational system. Such systems were critically important during the cold war, and were closely guarded secrets, since they were essential for targeting and delivery of nuclear weapons - both by intercontinental ballistic missiles as well as bombers. For example, on page 117 the book explains that an error of just 10^-5 g results, after integrating twice over an hour, in a positional error of over half a kilometer. Integrating twice for 10 hours increases the error to 50 kilometers.
Even though this isn't Feynman's best work I enjoyed it very much and consider it well worth reading.
Book Description
Witness astounding feats of physics
Hurry! Hurry! Come one, come all. Meet a man who can pull two railroad passenger cars with his teeth and a real-life human cannon ball. Come face to face with a dead rattlesnake that still bites. And unlock the secrets to the magician's bodiless head.
Welcome to Jearl Walker's Flying Circus of Physics, 2nd Edition, where death-defying stunts, high-flying acrobatics, strange curiosities, and mind-bending illusions are all part of everyday life. You don't need a ticket; you only need to look to the world around you to uncover these fascinating feats of physics.
Completely updated and expanded, this Second Edition of Jearl Walker's best-selling book features more than 700 thoroughly intriguing questions about relevant, fun, and completely real physical phenomena. Detailed explanations and references to outside sources guide your way through the problems.
You'll discover answers to such questions as:
* Can you start a fire with ice?
* Why does the sky turn green just before a tornado?
* Why do wintergreen LifeSavers glow in the dark when you bite them?
* If you are falling in an elevator, should you try to jump up at the last second or lay flat against the floor?
* How do electric eels produce their electric field?
* Why is wet sand darker than dry sand?
* What causes an oasis mirage?
* Why do stars twinkle?
* Could you drive a car on a ceiling?
Customer Reviews:
This book relates physics to life!.......2007-07-05
I am a retired science person who volunteers as an eighth grade science teacher. My primary notion is to convince the students that an understanding of the basic ideas of physics will enable you to comprehend more complex principals. To accomplish this, I am always searching for real life examples which demonstrate physics ideas. "The Flying Circus of Physics" provides a rich mix of these examples that makes the student see physics as part of their day-to-day life and not an abstraction.
flying circus.......2007-05-07
if you are a physics teacher this is a good one for your library. You won't use it everyday but it is nice to have.
Congratulations Amazon for Taking My Suggestion.......2007-04-15
For about a year, I've restrained myself from buying this book, since the reviews and description did not reflect the 2007 (once set at 2006) edition. About a month ago, I suggested they do something about it. I may have even written to Walker. At last, the description is up to date. However, a week ago I just decided to buy the book and write a mini-review. I'm just going to say a few words though.
It's a much larger format width/height wise. The answers are placed after the question and they are generally much longer responses than the first edition, which I thought were a bit too brief. These are completely new topics. The references are gone, but I do believe they are on his web site--in spades. There's quite a bit of supplemental info there. To find it his site just Google to "Jearl Walker" flying circus.
I suspect another difference in the book is the questions seem to have gotten further away from common basic physics. For example, in his first book he poses the question why does the cardboard stay in place when you turn over a glass of water with a cardboard over its mouth? Of course, there are many deeper questions in edition one. Nevertheless, his questions are interesting in the second edition. He's punctuated the book with some fun "short stories" like fire-walking. The book strikes me something like the approach of Mad about Physics, which also pulls examples from (a) physics journal in the manner of Walker's first edition. I don't quite see the "conceptual" tone as in Paul Hewitt's book Conceptual Physics, or in Epstein's Thinking Physics. Just different ways of thinking about physics.
wonder-full.......2006-09-13
This is my favorite book. This is a fantastic collection of hundreds of physics puzzlers, many taken from everyday life. It is full of thought-provoking questions about: superballs, silly putty, tops, and yo-yos; boiling water, dripping faucets, and blowing bubbles; rain, rainbows, snow, lightning, and tornados; bicycles, cars, boats, airplanes, and spaceships; magnets, electricity, radio, and television. It has answers in the back, but it is more fun if you try to figure it out for yourself, and resist looking up the answer. Some of these simple questions are so deep that scientists don't know the answers yet. Literally wonder-full.
Fascinating.......2006-08-29
I chanced upon this book and now can't put it down. I never realized how little I know about how the world around me works. This asks questions about physics in everyday life, not esoteric particle-accelerator stuff. Absolutely fascinating and the best read I've had in a long time.
Book Description
This book will save you time as you master the basics taught in first-year, calculus-based college physics courses. You'll firmly grasp the all-important building blocks needed for every physical science and all branches of engineering. The many problems included with guided solutions make this potentially daunting subject much easier. Additional problems with answers give you a chance to reinforce what you've learned and gauge your progress as you go. This next-best thing to a private tutor makes especially clear the topics most students find most difficult. It's ideal for independent study, brushup before an exam, or preparation for the MED-CAT and GRE.
Customer Reviews:
Good for review for .......2007-04-18
Aside from the typos (which I have since learned to expect in the Schaum's Outlines), I liked this book. It was concise and provided a means of getting a good review without having to pour through lengthy textbooks.
Sometimes, some steps are skipped from going from one formula to another but filling in those steps helped with the learning process.
Although not a complete study tool for the physics GRE (because it doesn't cover concepts like Lagrangians or advanced quantum mechanics that are found on the physics GRE), I definitely used it in conjunction with my undergraduate textbooks and I'm convinced it did help me with the physics GRE.
I wasn't particularly fond of his treatment of interference but I think he did a really great job with rotational kinematics and nuclear physics. But overall, a good review of physical concepts.
Not a nuclear physicist!.......2007-04-16
I'm just an engineering student, so what do I know? Well, I will tell you this much: there are a lot of errors in this book. Someone else wrote a review that said these errors are a good way to learn. This person was also a practicing physicist! I'm still learning and I don't leave much room for interpretation when something is incorrect. I automatically assume I'm wrong because I'm still learning. This is overkill, but there are a LOT of errors so don't throw caution to the wind. This book also explicitly states that you should understand some "obvious" things. If I did, I'd stick with my textbook! Not completely useless, but can be frustrating.
permitivity of freespace constant listed WRONG in book.......2006-03-08
The book is good other than....
On Pg 244 the book has a MAJOR TYPO !!
the permittivity of freespace constant (a universal constant... used in almost every claculation for several chapters) is not correct. they have it equal to 8.85*E^-11 when really it's
8.85*E-12
In the book's calculations, they use a value k that is equal to the lump sum of 1/(4pi*our constant) which had a correctly calculated value... therfor the answers to their examples are right, but if you plug in their constant value seperately in an equation, your answer will be off.
IT TOOK A LOT OF HAIR PULLING TO FIGURE OUT WHY MY HOMEWORK WASN"T RIGHT! DON'T MISTAKENLY OVERLOOK THIS.
I have written several e-mails to the editing department of the books publisher, but even with requesting a reply on the manner, they have yet to contact me.
Too many errors to be helpful.......2005-12-25
If this book was relatively error free, I would probably give it four or five stars because it outlines college physics for engineers quite nicely. As it is, there are so many errors throughout the book - in equations, solutions, problem statements, etc. - that it will drive even the most persistent student insane. Instead, I suggest that students of college freshman physics use the Schaum's Outline of College Physics, currently in its tenth edition. It is an oldie but a goodie, and the outline is pretty much error-free from beginning to end.
If you have your heart set on working physics problems that make heavy use of calculus, try "Sears and Zemansky's University Physics (10th Edition)", which is out of print. Used copies can usually be found here on Amazon for under $50. There are loads of solved problems and example problems, plus it is a terrific calculus-based college physics text to boot. Since we are talking about a 10th edition, there are few of the errors in that book that you will find in this Schaum's outline.
Error City !.......2005-11-27
The exposition is fairly engaging, and the problems are interesting. However, the answers to many are clearly wrong. For example, in SP 14.14 on pg 179, one can easily see that the answer given is not even dimensionally correct. I would estimate 10% of the problems have incorrect answers. I stopped reading after chapter 14. Too much time is wasted on such problems, only to find YOUR answer WAS correct. I doubt the book was ever proof-read; any physics graduate student worth his/her salt would have caught these errors.
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- Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics, Third Edition
- Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics, Third Edition
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- Physics of Semiconductor Devices
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- Protein Physics: A Course of Lectures (Soft Condensed Matter, Complex Fluids and Biomaterials)
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