AP Physics B.....Do you need Calculus?

<p>For anyone who has already taken AP Physics B, do you need to know any Calculus prior to taking the class?</p>

<p>nope, only Physics C does.</p>

<p>It helps conceptually (and when need you to find the area under the curve using simple geometry), but no, you don’t need it.</p>

<p>^ umm not at all. I gave Physics B with no knowledge of Calculus (I gave mine in sophomore year) and still got a 5.</p>

<p>There’s no real advantage of knowing calculus/taking calculus while taking Physics B. It helped a little that we reviewed velocity/acceleration graphs in both Calc and Physics, but it probably helped the class taking Pre-Cal more that they were covering vectors, parabolic movement, and other basic trig stuff while taking Physics B.</p>

<p>I said that it helps, not that it’s the only way to get a 5.</p>

<p>You don’t need it, but applying calculus to physics doesn’t hurt.</p>

<p>So you can take Pre-Calc concurrently with AP Physics B?</p>

<p>You do not need any math beyond Algebra 2 for Physics B, so as long as you’ve finished that (and I don’t think you actually need that either), you can take Physics B, so yes you can take Pre-calc concurrently. Having taken calculus helps a little bit for some of the concepts but you certainly don’t need it.</p>

<p>Alright good. This is the first year that my school is offering AP Physics, and I haven’t taken Calculus yet, so I was worried.</p>