I'm planning on doing a physics degree next year
The four papers required for the physics major first year are:
Fundamentals Physics I
Fundamentals Physics II
Fundamentals Mathematics I
Fundamentals Mathematics II
However seven papers are recommended first year.
What three papers should I take outside of physics/mathematics?
I posted on /adv/ and /sci/ the other day and got zero replies
what choices do you have
Literally every other first year paper in the university
then do something light
all "papers" in math and science can have devastating consequences
What are papers you would consider "light" that would supplement physics and math?
Hey I'm going into my 3rd year of physics. Idk wtf you mean by papers but if you mean classes just do what your major requires and if you have extra room it depends of what you're trying to specialize in. What are you trying to specialize in?
>Idk wtf you mean by papers
Seriously what is a "paper", op?
subject
maybe geology or geography, some kind of overview course
I'll be going into first year, so I won't be specializing
That's why the only two physics papers available firs year are "Fundamentals Physics I" and "Fundamental Physics II"
Paper = course
There are two first year geology papers at the uni I will go to, "Earth and Ocean Science" and "Dynamic New Zealand"
what electives outside of physics and math did you take first year?
Pretty much BS electives I have to take to graduate (ie racial studies, one culture class and some international studies class and 3 writing classes). This are classes that by California and U.S law I have to take to get a bachelors degree from a university. And I had already finished science basic requirements like Chem and bio from high school AP classes.
I don't know the Australian system but I assume you have to do the same so definitely try to knock some general education requirements if you can.
Later you'll need to specialize and then the cool electives come in. I'm specializing in computational and astrophysics so I'm taking a lot of programming and astronomy electives (for example I took numerical analysis in C and am taking Black holes next quarter).
If your really just stuck and want something useful just do programming. I assume it's a requirement that you do at least one course and it's actually useful.
t. Took Java C and Python in school and it inspired me to learn by myself HTML CSS JavaScript and PHP and am now making websites to try to make actual money instead of weak tutoring money.
Oh and I forgot to give my general warning to all physics prospects. Depending on your professor, differential equations is going to be hard as shit. But that doesn't compare at all to E&M. People will tell you "oh user you're so smart I could never major in physics" but it's all fake news. Physics is straight forward 90% of the time but E&M physics is actual child abuse. You'll get your intro dumbed down kiddy E&M class your first year and you'll think it's not that bad but later on after or around when you enter that quantum physics crap you'll get to real n*gga E&M and it's an absolute wall of incredibly abstract and useless 19th to 20th century physics, and the fact that you'll be probably learning the actually cool quantum and particle physics at the time makes it even worse. The other concepts are just "hard to grasp" because their abstract but E&M is just dense.
Thanks for the info man
I checked the physics year 2 courses, and yes, one of the required physics elective at the university I plan on going to is an electromagnetism and optics course
What should I read to prepare myself for that course? Since you're saying it is much harder than first year physics and other second year physics topics
At the uni I plan on going to, there is a course for learning java, and a course for learning python
Which language would be more useful for physics?
>paper = course
Literally fucking why.
What's wrong with calling a course a paper?
How does a piece of paper relate to a university course?
np. Optics isn't that bad basically all the questions are reflection and refraction, lenses, mediums, dispersion etc. Really basic math you just have to learn the concepts.
Your courses should prepare you for electromagnetism. Wikipedia and google are surprisingly good for understanding a particular concept. You'll actually use your multivariable calculus in E&M which is why I must've percived it as much harder than everything I did.
So basically just do well in your math courses, specifically when you get to the volume integrals, and then just prep yourself by reading up on electromagnetism concepts so you'll be able to properly apply yourself.
Oh and for me lab physics was a joke, just connect the right wires and turn the right nobs and you'll be fine.
Uhhh I learned Java first, it ended up being useful for web development, but for physics so far all I've used is C. But either Java or Python is a good intro to programming. Python is probably incrementally easier for a beginner because of its simple approach to syntax.
My professor last quarter works on the CERN large Hadron collider and she said all her code is in C and some of the really ancient code is in fortran.
Oh and these days a lot of things can be easily done in mathematica, but I'm sure you'll have to use that later anywasy. And a lab I almost worked in works in R (a language practically built by and for statisticians and mathematicians).
Multivariable Calculus is a course you have to take in second year physics major, so that will help my studies in the electromagnetism and optics course (electromagnetism and optics are taught in the same course at the uni I plan on going to)
Should I just learn C language in my spare time and don't worry about the other languages for now?
I find it funny how you recommend wikipedia for learning
Teachers at school always say not to use wikipedia, Kek
>flag
Why am I replying
You write down notes on paper while studying your course, duh
That's still retarded, and regardless the word "paper" should be reserved for referring to research papers, essays, reports etc.
...
>Should I just learn C language in my spare time and don't worry about the other languages for now?
It's your call, if you're bored in summer I guess you could just learn whatever language you like. I'm sure when you get to a place where you'll need a certain language they'll teach you but if you know one programming language learning the syntax for the rest is really easy.
Basically if you just want to learn a programming language to learn programming so you aren't lost when you first need it for a class either Python, Java, or C are good choices, it's what Universities first teach their students. In 2017 Python is probably the most useful because of its popularity.
Basically if you're curious how I use various programming languages: I use python to try to write trading algorithms. I use Javascript and PHP for my website, and I use C for solving physics problems on the fly or I just use mathematica if it's a simple thing that I don't feel like writing a program for but is too complicated to do by hand (for example I did the traveling salesman problem in C but I would do a complex integral in mathematica because it's faster than writing some integral solver code).
>wikipedia
Wikipedia articles are usually mediocore and not reliable, but for some reason they were really useful for numerical analysis. My teacher had a thick french accent so I just learned from online.