<p>I'm in a junior level e&m class. We're using Introduction to Electrodynamics by Griffiths. I personally think this book sucks. It either needs more examples or answers to the odd problems in the back. I've been doing fine until now, mostly by referring back to my freshmen physics book, but its starting to get to that point where some of the material isn't in my freshmen physics book. </p>
<p>So, I was wondering if anyone knew of any supplemental material that would be helpful. Maybe there are lecture notes online or something?</p>
<p>MIT OCW might help. If you look around online you can find the solutions manual to Griffiths… This is a very common textbook for undergraduate physics majors. Note: I’m not condoning cheating. If you use it to help double check your understanding then that’s fine… But if you copy the answers you will get rocked later on.</p>
<p>I tried looking for a solution manual earlier. According to Griffiths, the publisher told him not to put solutions to the odd problems in the back. A solution manual can only be obtained from the publisher only if you are an instructor. They won’t sell you one otherwise. </p>
<p>I’ll through OCW again. I took a quick look yesterday.</p>
<p>I think it’s silly not to at least provide some answers in the back. I also think homework should not be graded, or if it is, give it a marginal percentage. Why? Because you’re in the learning process up until the exam. Homework is part of the learning process. The solutions manual can help us understand the concepts, work through the problems, etc. Many of us don’t simply have the time. Having the manual as a resource can be invaluable.</p>
<p>However, if you have the manual or not, if you didn’t learn the material, it will show up at the exam.</p>
<p>I used the 2nd Edition of this book when I took my upper division E&M course many years ago. By the time you get to “Calculating Potentials” which I think is chapter three the math used is much more difficult than the math used in an introductory Physics textbook. I can understand restricting access to the solutions manual but found the lack of simple answers to the odd numbered problems to be a major shortcoming of this book. Without some check figures there is no way to determine if you are doing the problems correctly and if you do not know if you can do the problems right it is very hard to determine if you are comprehending the material or not. I think it is not a bad text but would be vastly more useful for the study of E&M if it simply gave answers to the odd numbered problems.</p>
<p>I’m just starting to hit a wall in a bunch of my classes. I haven’t been able to do any homework because its all just too difficult. </p>
<p>I am three homework assignments behind in differential equations. I’ve talked to other people and none of them seem to be able to do them either because of how difficult they are. The homework isn’t collected, the professor doesn’t really assign them either, she just puts problems online and then puts solutions up, which generally means that you should have done the assignment by the time she put the solutions up.</p>
<p>E&M the homework was due today, but no one turned in it. The professor gave us the next assignment too. </p>
<p>I’ve hit a wall in my differential geometry independent study too. I generally read a chapter in the book, and pick out problems to do then meet with a professor and we discuss. My meeting is on thursday, and I haven’t been able to do any problems. </p>
<p>Very frustrated right now because of the amount of time i’ve spent trying to do all this work, and yet i haven’t been able to finish any of it.</p>
<p>If you were one of a small group of students who could not do any of the problems in your E&M and Differential Equations classes I would advise you to engage in some serious self-reflection and maybe come to the conclusion that you simply lack the ability to succeed in a very difficult major like Physics. However, usually in any particular class there will be a small group of very talented students who can do all of the problems, the majority who can do most but not all the problems and a certain number who can do few, if any, of the problems. When none of the students can do the problems it usually indicates that the problem is a professor who does an extremely poor job of teaching the material.</p>
<p>However, it is unlikely you would have the misfortune of having really bad professors in two courses during the same semester. If this is the first course you have had in Differential Equations, taking it as a co-requisite rather than having had it as a pre-requisite could explain some of the problems in E&M since the Griffiths text assumes a fairly strong background in Differential Equations from early in the book.</p>
<p>What was your Math SAT score and what were your textbooks for your introductory courses in Physics and Calculus? Did you have any problems with those courses or are your current difficulties the first time you have experienced problems in Math and Physics courses? My impression is that your college thinks you are a pretty strong student if they are having you do an independent study course in something as difficult as Differential Geometry.</p>
<p>I very much doubt that. Considering I’ve made it to my junior year as a math major, and have gotten above a 3.5 gpa every semester since the fall semester of my sophomore year. I even got a 3.8 one semester.</p>
<p>The differential equations class is not a differential equations class although thats what its listed as. It is a dynamical systems class, because thats what the professor’s research interests are in, and because the professor that is teaching it is the head of the department. We covered most of the techniques for solving first order linear equations in the first week. Just recently we covered how to convert a second order equation into a system of first order equations and how to solve that system. This was motivated by the fact that we want to study qualitative aspects of differential equations, things like the flow, phase portrait, and stability of equilibria points. The focus is not on solving them. </p>
<p>I would not consider differential equations a prereq for e&m (and in fact it isn’t at my school), because we haven’t solved any differential equations in this class until now. What we have used is vector calculus, which I am very good at. I got an A vector calculus, and I have been doing work in that general area for the past year, with a reading course in differential topology, and now one in differential geometry. As well as some self studying of differential forms and things like integration on a manifold. Also, I got an A in my freshmen e&m class.</p>
<p>I found a copy of the solutions manual to Griffiths online; I have it as a pdf. </p>
<p>I do think Griffiths is a good book without it; it’s a great book with it.</p>