Accelerated Introductory Physics UN2801

Professor Norman Christ

This site provides information about this course, offered in the Fall of 2022.

(Last year's Fall semesster website is: http://www.columbia.edu/~nhc1/UN2801_f21/ )

(Last year's Spring semester website is: http://www.columbia.edu/~nhc1/UN2802_s22/ )

• Professor Christ:
  • Email: nhc@phys.columbia.edu
  • Office:  801 Pupin
  • Telephone:  212 854 3307
  • Office hours:
    • Mondays from 4:00 to 5:00 pm in room 801 Pupin.
    • Wednesdays from 6:00 to 7:00 pm by Zoom with link in Courseworks. under the Zoom Class Sessions menu choice.
• Text books:
  • Required:    An Introduction to Mechanics, Second Edition, Kleppner and Kolenkow, McGraw Hill, ISBN 978-0-521-19811-0
  • Required (12/2020):   Electricity and Magnetism, Edward M. Purcell,  2nd Edition, available under Files on Courseworks
  • Recommended: The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Feynman, Leighton and Sands, Volume 1, Addison Wesley
  • Recommended: Exercises for the Feynman Lectures on Physics, New Millennium Edition by Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton, Matthew Sands, ISBN 978-0465060719
  • Recommended: Linear Algebra, fourth edition, Lipschutz and Lipson, ISBN 978-0-07-154352-1, Schaum's Outlines, McGraw Hill.
• Numerical solutions
  • Numerical solutions will be pursued to extend our understanding and explore problems without analytic solutions.
  • We will use the Python language. Instructions, references and sample solutions will be located at: PythonPage.
• Assignments Should be uploaded to Courseworks using the Assignments menu choice before midnight on the Thursday when they are due.
• Class time and place: 10:10-12:00, Tuesday and Thursday, room 329 Pupin.
• Recitation/problem sessions:
  • Chance to see homework problems solved and to ask other questions
• Conducted by Gabriel Guerra Trigo Email: ggt2112@columbia.edu
• Times: Wednesday at 4:00 pm and Friday at 9:00 am, both sessions in room 627 Mudd.
• Added Reading.  (Further material that may be useful for the course.)
• Syllabus and schedule. (Currently from last year. To be updated as the course proceeds)
• Written notes about topics covered in the course:
  • Definition of dimension of a vector space
• Midterm exam
  • Will be given in class on Thursday, October 13, 2022
  • The exam is closed book without calculator but an 8.5x11 sheet of formulae (written on both sides) is permitted.
  • The exam will cover material up to the discussion of energy and problems sets 1-4 but will not require Stokes' theorem.
  • Try the practice midterm exam. This will be discussed in a special review session at 7:00 pm on Monday Oct. 10 in room 705 Pupin.
• Final exam
  • Exam will take place on Thurs. Dec 22 in room 329 Pupin from 9:00 am to 12:00 m.
  • The exam is closed book without calculator but an 8.5x11 sheet of formulae (written on both sides) is permitted.
  • A practice final exam has been posted.
  • We will have a review session in which the practice exam will be solved in room 329 from 4:00-6:00 pm on Thursday Dec 15th.
  • The exam will cover material upto but not including Gauss' law and Gauss' theorem.
• Homework: Reading and home assignments will be posted on this site on Thursdays.  Homework will consist of 8-10 problems that should be uploaded to Courseworks under the Assignments menu choice on the following Thursday (seven days later).
• Grades: Grades will be determined from a weighted average of the homework (20%), midterm exam (30%) and final exam (50%).
• Help Room.  Help with homework and general questions is available in the Physics Help Room, format and hours to be determined.
• Academic integrity

This site last modified December 09, 2022