<p>Hello, </p>
<p>I am going to be a freshman at Cornell. So I want to study Calculus 1 and Physics 1 over the summer, thinking it will help me.</p>
<p>Are there any internet sources of any books?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Not worth it, spend your time relaxing instead. You can study calc and physics when your classes start.</p>
<p>^ Agreed. Enjoy your vacations.</p>
<p>Yea, enjoy your summer. Besides, you won't find any free worthwhile material on the internet if you're trying to start from square one. If anything, buy a cheap used textbook. You'll have plenty of time to study once you get to Cornell, so don't worry about it.</p>
<p>These are subjects that are difficult to learn on your own. If you're going into anything math/science related, these are fundamental, so you should make sure that you learn everything correctly the first time. I would recommend either taking summer courses or just enjoying your break. If you're just looking to familiarize yourself with the material, maybe look at some bookstores. Pretty much any book would be useful, I think, like maybe the "... for Dummies" series or something like that.</p>
<p>I think spivak is an excellent text, albeit very rigorous. Amazon.com:</a> Calculus: Michael Spivak: Books</p>
<p>If you are looking for online sources, try physics forum. They have both physics and calculus</p>
<p>Thank you guys for the input. Why I am so afraid is that I am feeling like I was just too lucky to get into Cornell. It might not be a great school for you guys, but it is for me.
I am just a typical Asian boy who has always wanted to go to USA.
I have done my first step of getting admitted, now there is one thing: to study well.
So I am afraid I cannot keep up with the other kids. And while my chosen major is computer science, I do not know much about programming and stuff.</p>
<p>Do you still think I should get relaxed and start everything with full of energy?
Are there kids like me at Cornell?</p>
<p>if i were you,,ill enjoy my summer relaxing as much as i can,,cause after you entering cornell,,you might wont have that kind of summer again,,besides thats your last summer in your country! go have fun with your friends while you can..</p>
<p>but,,i know all of my friends from indonesia who are studying in Singapore univs now,,all of them did what you want to do,,thought (i think) they are super smart people,,they study few chapters for the next semester in holiday to catch up with other chinese students there..
so,,i understand your feeling..its sooo typical asian students.. (excluding me)lols</p>
<p>btw, im using calc book by larson,hostetler,edwards.. if you want to know</p>
<p>I think self-studying is not so stressful due to the fact that there's no impending exams. It can actually make learning fun.</p>
<p>you'll be fine, don't worry about it, at the start of Calc 1, you just review basics of functions anyway. you don't even get into actual Calculus for a while. but I don't really think Calculus is the hardest subject to self-learn... and for CS, just don't fall behind and you'll be fine (if you don't have experience in CS)</p>
<p>
[quote]
btw, im using calc book by larson,hostetler,edwards.. if you want to know
[/quote]
I like the eighth edition of Larson et al., however it might be a bit difficult to use as a self study guide for someone with no calc experience.</p>
<p>for physics I, watch the video lectures, should be good, haven't watched them myself though</p>
<p>for calculus 1, this may be alright, again haven't watched them myself
<a href="http://www.archive.org/details/ap_calculus_ab%5B/url%5D">http://www.archive.org/details/ap_calculus_ab</a></p>
<p>
[quote]
And while my chosen major is computer science, I do not know much about programming and stuff.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Is this really what you want to do? I am personally fascinated by computers and have done a fair a amount with programing and computers in general, but I have talked with people who went to college who had to take a CS course for some reason and absolutely hated it (keep in mind, I'm a high school senior at the moment). If you like math (Calculus and higher-level algebra stuff...not numbers...I personally hate working with pure numbers, but I don't mind calculus at all...variables are my friend) chances are you may enjoy the logic involved with computer science. </p>
<p>If it is something that truly interests you, do some reading during the summer. Start off with some Python (susposedly a good begginers language and a language I have been meaning to learn as it is also a very usefull language) and maybe a little C. Read about some lower-level programming stuff as it will help you understand many things that may or may not be explained all that well to you in college.</p>
<p>Just my two cents....if you end up hating it, there's still time to switch to something else.</p>
<p>EDIT: I should say that computer science, from what I know, won't be where you are doing a bunch of assembly or working very low-level, but know what is going on inside the "black box" will help you understand many of the higher level things and what is actually going on.</p>
<p>No, they'll probably have you start off doing CS in Java (or maybe C++), so I would advise you to work with Java first. There's lots of good documentation for it, so it's not too hard to learn. In CS you always start at a very high level (Java/C++/etc.), then work your way down to a very low level when you get to upper-level classes. You don't really need to understand how it works on a low level to be able to program in a high-level language like Java. But to move to a low-level language after Java, I would choose C. You'll need to know it for any upper-level classes most likely.</p>
<p>I think, on his own, he should start with a lower level language and research how things work lower on. Quite Frankly, schools should not be teaching Java or C++ as a first language and my statement can be backed up by numerous articles and people online who have very good backgrounds in computer science. (Something like python would be better. I think MIT teaches Scheme first, and many here would agree MIT is quite reputable. Though, I'm not really familure with scheme.)</p>
<p>If you understand what is actually going on, when you go to a higher level language you'll be able to program, knowing what is going on and why you should do something one way and not the other.</p>
<p>Python is not a low-level language, but is a very good language for beginners. It has a c-style syntax, so it will be an easy transition from C (if you decide to work with that also on your own) and then Java or C++ in college.</p>
<p>Please feel free to do some research on my recommendations if you think I'm not reputable enough. If you truly care about being a good programmer or have an interest in it, I think my suggestions are a good way to start off.</p>
<p>I think it's worth self-studying some basic programming if you haven't learned it yet and that's your major. A lot of kids learn it by themselves over the internet in like middle school so it shouldn't be too hard and it might ease the stress come freshmen year.</p>
<p>Yes, I think it'd be beneficial to understand what's actually going on (though a good professor can help that to an extent), but as far as why you should do something one way over another... in my school at least, first semester CS is just a basic Java class: i.e., programming. Second semester is data structures and algorithm analysis; i.e., good programming. But if you've never programmed before, it would be better to get familiar with the basics and not have to worry about doing this, that, and the other thing with pointers (although even in high-level Java, you may need to understand a little bit about pointers when passing arrays around).</p>
<p>That's why I said to start with Python >_> I think you are missing my point a little. I don't think it would be a good idea to jump into the middle of everything either. C++ and Java are not good beginner languages....</p>
<p>Summary: start with a language like python, move to C, then learn more about what is actually going on, then go to higher level languages like Java.</p>
<p>lol, I think Java is a fine beginning language, but whatever. and after the first couple classes, CS isn't about picking up new languages, it's about actual computer science. a lot it is mathematical, or about optimizing your code (i.e., optimizations that the compiler can't automatically do), writing efficient algorithms, etc. you may have to know certain languages for certain classes. but after you know one (or maybe two), it won't be hard to pick up others.</p>