I have found the recently posted YouTube video series “Essence of Linear Algebra” to be very useful. A series of 15 videos that run a total of about 160 minutes, they will be well worth your time and will serve as an excellent companion to our textbook and in-class discussions.

• As noted in Winter Break Reading, there will be a quiz on our first day of winter quarter, at our first class meeting.
• The quiz will cover material from Lay chapter 1.1-1.5 (originally, I had also planned a first day quiz on material from Griffiths, but that has changed – see below)
  • Each assigned section in Lay chapter 1 has some True/False questions. For convenience, they are collected here. The first day quiz questions will be based on these.
  • You may want to answer them and discuss your responses using the online annotation tool at nb.mit.edu; see this post for details.
  • Note that for all future reading assignments in Lay, this set of True/False questions at the end of each section will be considered as part of the reading assignment.
• Originally, I had planned a first day quiz covering material from Griffiths 1.1-1.4.
  • Instead, we will review this material rapidly in class on the first day.
  • In lieu of a first day quiz, I will need your feedback on what particularly you need to see covered in class.
  • You can give me this feedback either via:
    • the Griffiths Chapter 1 pdf available at nb.mit.edu (see this post for details) or;
    • if you can’t use that tool for any reason, you can send me an email that follows the reading response format from fall quarter: for each section or sub-section, describe a) the big physics concept(s); b) the big math(s); c) questions about examples; d) questions/topics you’d like to spend class time on.
  • This feedback is due by 9am Mon. Jan. 9 (in order to give me the lunch break to prepare for our discussion in the afternoon).

• As we discussed at the end of fall quarter, we will make particular efforts in winter quarter to attend to the Program Learning Goal: “Improve your reading of technical texts to develop conceptual understanding and procedural skills.”
• We will experiment with using the tools available at nb.mit.edu. Please read details about how to register for this tool here.
• Note that you will need to be logged in to our program web-site to access the page linked above. If not logged-in, you can do so via this link.

As a reminder, here is our proposed winter quarter schedule (click on the image for larger version).

Please note the following adjustments to account for the candidates for the physics faculty position:

• In week 2:
  • Wed. Jan. 18: 9:00 – 11:00 EM as usual; 11:00 – 12:00 break; 12:00 – 1:00 Candidate’s Public Presentation (instead of EM)
  • Thu. Jan. 19: 9:00 – 10:00 Candidate’s Teaching Demo in EM (instead of Project/Seminar); 10:00 – 11:00 more EM
• In week 3:
  • Mon. Jan. 23: 11:00 – 12:15 break (note break is a bit shorter than usual); 12:15 – 1:15 LA/QM; 1:30 – 2:30 Candidate’s Teaching Demo in EM in Lab 1 054 (note LA/QM and EM are switched today)
  • Tue. Jan. 24: 11:00 – 12:00 break (note break ends earlier than usual); 12:00 – 1:00 Candidate’s Public Presentation in Lab 1 054; 1:00 – 1:30 break; 1:30 – 3:30 LA/QM in CAL West (note late start and late end)
• In week 5:
  • Mon. Feb. 6: 11:00 – 12:15 break (note break is a bit shorter than usual); 12:15 – 1:15 LA/QM; 1:30 – 2:30 Candidate’s Teaching Demo in EM in Lab 1 054 (note LA/QM and EM are switched today)
  • Tue. Feb. 7: 11:00 – 12:00 break (note break ends earlier than usual); 12:00 – 1:00 Candidate’s Public Presentation in Lab 1 054; 1:00 – 1:30 break; 1:30 – 3:30 LA/QM in CAL West (note late start and late end)

Check back for updates about schedule adjustments to account for Math candidates public presentations.

• You can find a sign-up sheet for our delayed end of fall quarter conferences here.
• Note that you will need to be logged in to this site to access the sign-up sheet. If not logged-in, you can do so via this link.

We start up our winter quarter after a long break. There will be a reading assignment over the break, and we’ll begin the quarter assuming you have completed it. Here’s a list of our winter quarter texts. As some of you may not have access to the texts over the break, here are password protected copies of the first chapters of our EM and LA texts (these links will be disabled once you’ve all had a chance to get your own copies of the texts).

• Griffiths Chapter 1, (the entire chapter)
• Lay Chapter 1, (the whole chapter, but just skimming section 1.6 and skipping section 1.10)
• Please note that the Griffiths chapter is from the 3rd edition and the Lay chapter from the 4th edition, so each comes from the immediately previous edition to the one we’ll be using. However, the content is essentially identical to the current editions.

We’ll be covering and completing both of these chapters in the first week of the quarter.

• For Griffiths Chapter 1:
  • I expect that sections 1.1 – 1.4 should be review of MVC material from fall quarter and that you are familiar (if not expert) with it. There will be some notation differences. Use your MVC text and notes along with Div, Grad, Curl to solidify anything from those sections that you are uncertain about.
  • My current plan is that the first day quiz (yes, I am planning to have a quiz on the first day) will come from this material on the first day, we will rapidly cover the material from sections 1.1 – 1.4, so come prepared having read these sections and with questions.
  • I do not expect that the material in sections 1.5 and 1.6 will be familiar to you, though I do think you will find them interesting.
  • I imagine that we will spend most of our time in the first week on sections 1.5 – 1.6, as well as reviewing what you need from sections 1.1 – 1.4.
• For Lay Chapter 1:
  • I expect that there will be a great deal of important new terminology and notation in sections 1.1 – 1.5, but little that is conceptually brand new (but please do bring to my attention what you’d like us to spend class time on from this material).
  • My current plan is that the first day quiz (yes, I am planning to have a quiz on the first day) will come from this material.
  • I anticipate that we will spend the bulk of our time in the first week on the interesting material sections 1.7 – 1.9, as well as covering what you ask about from earlier in the chapter.

(as noted in an email sent earlier this week):

Due to illness, fall-end conferences need to be rescheduled.

The tutors have confirmed that they are available for regular tutoring on Sunday, for those of you working on Exam 2 Revisions or Public Solution Revisions.

• Please check your fall conference time, and then email faculty to confirm your time. Conferences are in Krishna’s office Lab 2 3255.
• You may need to click on the link below and/or log in to see the schedule.
• Some reminders. The following are due as indicated:
  • Peer Reviews of Public Solutions (hard copy preferred, email acceptable given weather) to Author and faculty by 5pm Friday December 9. Note – if you didn’t submit a paper version of the previous Peer Reviews to faculty, you may email them but please note as such in the subject or body of the email.
  • Revised Public Solutions due by 9am Monday December 12 to Krishna’s office Lab 2 3255. If you produced a Narrative Solution, indicate how you would revise based on feedback from your peer reviewers. Note – if you didn’t submit paper versions of previous Revised Public Solutions to faculty, you may submit them by this deadline. Also note – you are only responsible to submit 2 Revised Public Solutions total for faculty review (though you are welcome to submit more than 2).
  • Exam 2 Revisions due by 9am Monday December 12 to Krishna’s office Lab 2 3255. Highest quality solutions are expected; typeset preferred but clearly presented hand-written solutions acceptable, while links to narrative solutions should be emailed directly to Krishna. You can work on the community solutions version here.
  • Interim Self-Evaluations due by 9am Monday December 12 to Krishna’s office Lab 2 3255.
  • Fall Quarter Self-Checks due by 9am Monday December 12 to Krishna’s office Lab 2 3255.
  • Upload your evaluations of Vauhn (student evaluations of faculty) via your my.evergreen.edu before your conference. No student evaluations of Krishna are expected until you exit the program.

• Div, Grad, Curl, and All That, (Fourth Edition). Schey. 2004. ISBN: 9780393925166. Earlier editions are fine. (for electrodynamics)
• Introduction to Electrodynamics (4th Edition). Griffiths. 2012. ISBN: 978-0321856562. (for electrodynamics)

• Linear Algebra and its Applications (5th Edition). Lay, et.al. 2015. ISBN: 9780321982384. (for linear algebra)
• A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics (2nd Edition). Townsend, 2013. ISBN: 978-1-891389-78-8. (for quantum mechanics)