Syllabus

The goal of this course is to prepare students for the intensive mathematics needed to be successful in the physics upper-division curriculum. While this is mainly directed towards electromagnetism and quantum mechanics, many of the topics have a wide application in other fields such as computing and signal processing. We being with an overview of complex numbers before moving on to vector calculus (grad et al.). Then, the biggest chunk of the course, we move on to linear algebra. This part is essential for quantum mechanics and as it isn't covered amazingly in the Boas text I will supply additional notes. Ordinary and partial differential equations is next, with a focus on solving problems with spherical symmetry. We then finish up with integral transforms, such as the very important Fourier transform.

Details

This class will meet twice a week over a the Fall semester. We followed the textbook Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences by Taylor.

A copy of the most recent course syllabus can be found here.

Class slides

PDFs of the most recently completd semester's lecture slides can be found in the PHYS105 folder at this url.

Part 1: Complex numbers

Part 2: Vector calculus

Part 3: Linear algebra

Part 4: Ordinary differntial equations

Part 5: Partial differntial equations

Part 6: Integral transforms