Physics Equations & Answers (Quick Study Academic)

A fascinating lectures on physics

The famous mathematician William Thurston, in an article, wrote about the meaning of giving a proof for a theorem. The point was the following. "What is the meaning of giving a proof for a theorem? When I was a college student, I couldn't understand that we have to prove something even though we can fully understand it. Even now, I have such an attitude. What we want is not giving a formal proof, but understanding". After reading the article, I was deeply moved and my attitude also has changed. What we want is understanding! A lecture or a book is valuable only if it helps us understand. In this sense, R. Shankar's Fundamentals of Physics is a fascinating introduction to physics. The focus of this book is not to list basic facts of physics and give its explanations, but to help us understand what physics is from the scratch. Even though its style is rather philosophical and fundamental, it is informal, lucid, practical, concrete (several examples for each subject). If you have a firm understanding of calculus and calculus of several variables, then it will be very helpful for you to read the book. By firm understanding of calculus, I mean the full understanding of basic concepts in calculus, for example, the meaning of derivative and differentials in finding approximate solutions, not various techniques of integrations. If you are a mathematician, then you will find that the author understands calculus deeply and accurately. I have studied calculus of several variables, but the content of the final chapter on statistical mechanics using it was difficult for me. I think it was not because of mathematics, but because of physics. There are several classical introductory books on physics. Among them, I'd like to compare the book with the Feynman Lectures on Physics. I just read a few chapters of Feynman's book. But I felt that he was saying too many things, and so for many freshmen, it might be confusing and difficult. But Shankar's book is more concise and easy. He ...