<p>Taking a general Physics class and Calc 1 at the same time. First day today and the teacher went off on a rant about how we shouldn't be in physics till after calculus. Has anyone had any experience with this, or any problems taking physics without calc(or at the same time?). Advisers were allowing students to take the two classes at once..if it was going to be a problem, shouldn't they have caught it?(my schedule went through 2 advisers and a registrar before i got in my classes)</p>
<p>um no its not. that teacher must be one of those “by the book” teachers. You wont have any problems. All calc based means is that they’ll be using calculus to explain somethings instead of just algebra, but other than that you wont have to do a calculus problem. Its really not that big of a deal. You’ll be fine if you work hard and keep up</p>
<p>Physics as a subject should be taken after calc, but as a course it’s not really needed. When I took physics 1, we barely used calc besides some simple derivatives and maybe 1 or 2 integrals. Any calc you do encounter will more than likely just be the basics.</p>
<p>If you took calc in high school, you’ll be more than ready for physics.</p>
<p>(From my experience at least.)</p>
<p>I just finished the first half of AP Physics(Mechanics) at my school while taking AP Calc AB(my first calc class) at the same time. I am doing extremely well and I’ll tell you that if you are willing to do a lot of learning on your own, it is very doable. The calculus that you need to know for mechanics isn’t too hard although we’ve started E+M and even the Calc BC students in the class are scratching their heads with some of the calc. However, I have found through my own experience that the best way to do well in physics is to study it/read about it/watch videos of it every second you can. Watch videos on the mathematics that physics employs as well. I am fascinated by the subjects and because of this I understood the concepts better than the other kids in the class who didn’t care much of why things worked the way they did. As long as you put alot of effort into learning physics on your own as well as in the classroom, the math shouldnt be too bad as youll understand why the math works the way it does. If anything, you’ll have an edge over the other Calc students as the physics enhances your understanding of calc quite a bit.</p>
<p>And for those who are going to post that I’m only in high school and that AP Physics can’t compare to college level, my AP Physics teacher is an ex professor at a college, as well as being a research physicist for the United States Army for several years and I am absolutely confident in his teaching of physics thoroughly.</p>
<p>What textbook are you using for your Physics class? My son is a Geology major at Sacramento State University and for the first semester of Calculus based Physics, Calculus 1 is a prerequisite with Calculus 2 as a co-requisite and it is strictly enforced. They use Halliday and Resnick’s “Fundamentals of Physics” for their text and derivatives and integrals are already being used in the first few chapters. In Calculus 1 you are not going to have a good handle on derivatives until at least halfway through the course and will not encounter integrals until the final stages of Calculus 1. There are some Physics textbooks that are less mathematical and do not introduce Calculus based problems so early in the text so it might be possible to get by with Calculus 1 as a co-requisite depending on the Physics textbook you are using.</p>
<p>Even though I went to medical school and am a practicing MD, I majored in Astronomy as an undergraduate and can tell you that the stronger your foundation in Calculus is, the better you will do in Physics.</p>
<p>We used Halliday Resnick’s Fundamentals of Physics too and the calculus isn’t that challenging, as I said simply learn some basic derivatives and watch videos to understand what they mean and how they work. Do the same for integrals.</p>
<p>Just review the area of the Calculus book that deal with derivatives and position/velocity/acceleration…same stuff.</p>
<p>Introductory physics for physics and engineering majors uses calculus, so first semester calculus (or AP Calculus credit) is a typical prerequisite and second semester calculus is a typical corequisite. When you get to electricity and magnetism, multivariable calculus is a typical prerequisite or corequisite.</p>
<p>“Light” physics courses for non-majors may have lesser math prerequisites or corequisites.</p>
<p>Did you take any physics in high school? Any Calculus?</p>
<p>In most cases, I would highly recommend <em>against</em> doing Calc 1 and Physics 1 at the same time. I consider myself strong in math and physics but I did Calc 1 and Physics 1 at the same time and it just didn’t feel right. I thought I would have understood a considerable amount more if I took Calc 1 <em>before</em> Physics 1. Even though it’s the same stuff, learning the physics and math at the same time is hard.</p>
<p>Sure, you could pass the class doing them together but where you’re gonna run into problems is Calc 2 and Physics 2. That’s setting yourself up for a tough scenario. Calc 3 and Physics 2 makes the most sense because you touch on some Physics 2 topics at the end of Calc 2. Also, Calc 3 uses a lot of vectors and the same of which you’ll see in Physics 2. </p>
<p>I know there’s arguments on both sides. But I just saw a lot of kids struggle (fail) in my first physics class and mostly it was because they weren’t prepared with the math prior. Waiting will give you a great foundation to build on. Understanding is the key for success later on. Good luck.</p>
<p>The book I’m using is Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics by Giancoli. I don’t have prior physics or calculus background. Unfortunately there were literally NO other classes open that I needed to take, in order to keep me above 12 cred hours.</p>
<p>Giancoli is a widely used Physics text for Physical Science and Engineering majors and does use Calculus. I am not sure how much it uses and how early in the book it is introduced.</p>
<p>One thing that you, and Scottyboy, should keep in mind is that unlike high school teachers, college professors are in no way required to keep within the parameters of the textbook used in the class. Many professors will augment the material in the book with material of their own that you will be held responsible for on exams. Some professors hardly use the assigned textbook at all and teach from lecture notes that they themselves have prepared and again you will be held responsible on exams for any and all material presented in lectures.</p>
<p>You said that the professor strongly believes that students should take Calculus before they take Physics. You should take this as a possible warning that he plans to make extensive use of Calculus in his lectures, assignments and on tests and that you will struggle in the class if you have not already taken Calculus.</p>
<p>Lemaitre raises a very good point.</p>
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<p>I’m sure that there’s some humanities course you could take. You have to have at least some basic gen ed req you can get out of the way now.</p>
<p>As stated an introductory physics is more dependent on knowing the principles, algebraic skills, and problem-solving abilities. Calculus is involved, but it’s very basic calculus. Mostly derivative/integrals of functions. The occasional complex integral, but those can be memorized.</p>
<p>No, I have all the gen ed’s, humanities, done a long time ago.</p>
<p>Even without prior physics/calc experience, I still think it can be done. Sure it’ll make the class harder than it probably should be, but it doesn’t sound like you have much choice if you have nothing else to take.</p>
<p>MathPhysicist does bring up a good point about physics 2 and calc 2. It probably doesn’t help they’re both considered major weed-out classes. Just hope you have good professors…</p>
<p>I just did the calc 1/physics 1 semester and it worked out perfectly fine. If you come into it with any prior background in calculus, you will come out ok. During lectures, the professor might use some calculus that you are not familiar with (partial derivatives and such, at least I hadn’t encountered them yet), but that will be ok. Mechanics did not seem too heavy in calc so if there’s anything you don’t follow it will only be a small fraction of the course as a whole.</p>
<p>For Physics I your main concern is understanding basic derivatives (do you have a solid grasp of the acceleration, velocity, and displacement equations and how they relate to each other?) and rates of change. If I say “dx/dt” you must instantly understand that I mean the change in x with respect to the change in t. It’s not that Physics I is heavy on calculus, it’s that key concepts in that class <em>do</em> use basic calc and so your understanding of the material could be badly harmed if your grasp of these concepts is shaky and you could have a very bad time understanding certain concepts, especially with zero calc or physics background. By the time you get to Physics II you need to understand integrals because those <em>do</em> come up in E&M. I’m not surprised your teacher was feisty because A) it harms your chances of earning an A in the class and B) it means your teacher has to go slower to explain the calc when it comes up.</p>
<p>Ha! the physics teacher I have this semester is one of the authors of that book fundamentals of physics.</p>
<p>Unlikely, David Halliday died last year at the age of 94 and Robert Resnick, while still alive, is 88 years old.</p>
<p>^^ Dr walker, I think he work on this book too? not sure though</p>