Here is a very tentative spring quarter reading list & order for those of you hoping to use Evaluation Week and Spring Break to get ahead or just trying to get a sense of our upcoming work.
Calculus: Our main goal in spring quarter is to be able to study Multivariable Calculus (Strang Chapters 13 and 14). We’ll study portions of Strang’s chs. 9 – 12, leveraging what we’ve already learned from physics (if you just read the table of contents entries for those chapters, you should see many familiar terms). Our pace will be approximately what it has been in fall and winter: roughly 3 sections/week. We’ll start in Chapter 9 in week 1 of spring, and proceed in order (skipping and/or combining sections as makes sense/is required).
Physics: Our main areas of study will be waves, optics, and thermodynamics (Mazur ch. 15 – 17, 19 – 21, 33 – 34). I’m still trying to figure out what makes the most sense: 1) following in order, which would mean waves, then thermo, then optics; 2) waves, then optics, then thermo (this puts waves and optics next to each other which is a natural pairing); or 3) thermo, then waves and optics. Our pace will be such that we will cover no more than 1 chapter/week. We will definitely start with Ch. 15 (Periodic Motion) in week 1 of spring.
Electronics: Professor Switz plans to cover the equivalents of Mazur Chapters 26, 31, and 32 and extend beyond that using text materials that we will provide (so no need to purchase any new textbooks). Check back for updates.