Rileys Freaky Fridays

To pass a calculus-based physics class, you have to understand calculus and be able to apply it. You will have to take what you learned in calculus (and advanced algebra, geometry, and trigonometry) and apply it to problems.

So if you just barely squeaked by those math courses without really understanding the concepts, you will not be able to succeed in physics. Sometimes, math teachers just teach a tiny little sub-subject at a time in isolation from all the other topics. This allows mediocre students to pass just by focusing myopically on one little topic, and then forgetting it when they move on to the next topic, always missing the big picture. This ends in disaster if you then get dropped into a course that expects you to see and understand that big picture.

So go back and understand (really understand) your calculus class. If you need to, retake calculus and make sure you take a course designed for physics and engineering. It’s not so important to know how to do fancy integrals (a computer can do them) and prove lots of theorems (yawn), but you need to know the fundamentals cold–what IS a derivative, what IS an integral, etc. And of course, your algebra, geometry, and trigonometry skills have to be sharp as well.

Mistress Bekki offers an interesting perspective. I would like to offer a different view. Even though physics is a lot of applied math, it is really all about Critical Thinking.

Critical thinking must began with a good understanding of:

1) definitions
2) principles
3) basic concepts.

If you thoroughly know and understand 1, 2, and 3, then you can successfully APPLY them to solve problems in physics.

I have two suggestions:

First, be sure to clearly know and understand each definition, principle and concept the textbook presents. This, of course, means study, study, study the textbook.

Second, I would like to suggest you get a jump start on critical thinking in physics by studying a FUN but informative laymen’s book on physics called “Thinking Physics - Practical lessons in critical thinking” by Lewis Carroll Epstein. Epstein teaches physics and writes physics books at City College of San Francisco. This book is a lot a fun and a powerful tool for gaining understanding of many basic physics principles and concepts.

The book is available from Amazon.com (2 new and 2 used at steep prices - but the price is worth it!).

Best wishes and good luck.

p.s. read the reviews of this book on Amazon’s page (the link)

Well, this may be of use to you or not. You did not really indicate the nature of the problem.

If it was with understanding the conceptual principles of physics, then perhaps this is simply not something that comes easy for you. Or you could have had an instructor who was not able to present things clearly. Preparing for this sort of difficulty could involve familiarizing yourself with the topics far in advance, so that your mind has more time to, sort of, digest the concepts. When you return to them some months later, in class, they will not seem so novel or difficult. With a little effort it would not be difficult to find exactly the topics that will be covered in each school year.

But your problem could also be in taking problems and putting them into context, to be able to see how to fit them into physical relationships: how to construct equations to solve problems. And for that there is a simple, if arduous solution: DO lots and lots of problems. Your brain will adapt, and your ability to translate concepts into solutions will expand, but it may only expand inch by inch. Still, with enough effort, you can improve this ability a very great deal. If you have a chapter in a textbook, an instructor will sometimes assign a few of the problems at the end of the chapter, or at least suggest that you do them. Solve them ALL! It may sound funny, but it is a bit like juggling: the mind learns to do what you want it to do, but only if you do it repetitively, you could even say ‘relentlessly’. But there is a real sense of achievement as you gradually hone this skill.