High school physics bites

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No one, not even my teacher, knows how confused I am with HS physics. Ever since Chapter 3, I go formula fishing, finding that my factors and calculations are quite screwy. It is a reverse trend, for unlike progressive math teaching, the book seems to screw around with wordy questions and examples and I can't stand it!

I'm a 2nd year physics major in college, and I see a lot of people who have trouble with it. It will be hard if you try to find some algorithm to solve the problems; make sure you can understand the concept and visualize what is happening (drawing a diagram may help.) Or maybe your teacher/book just sucks.

Can you give an example of what you're having trouble with?

Teacher: LAZY, and a chem major
Book:WORDY, RANDOM, and PICTURES SUCK
Students: Think I'm superior 'cause I read Hawkins and Greene, w/o formulas

I'm thinking of getting 3000 solved problems in physics
It has gotten the best Amazon reviews
All I need is a little repetition to better piece these problems

My high school physics teacher looked like a bulldog.

Tim

Yes Matrix you shoud. Any question books with complete answers are EXCELLENT for studying physics. Thats how I became good in physics despite the stupidity of the school system.

What textbook are you using? You could try picking up a second-hand copy of University Physics, that's a pretty standard text. My HS Physics class uses Giancoli, of which I am not particularly fond.

I'm going to take the algebra/trig-based physics for my geology degree.

Tim

It is the Bob Jones protestant-based text. Not only will it **** with your brain, it will use the principles and over-complicate biblical text. I just got the physics solution supplement, but I will be on vacation this week. So far the supplement is explaining quite a bit.

This is why I like going to a state college.

Tim

You mean they put Bible verses in a physics textbook? :? I can understand there being biblical discussion in a theology, comparative religion, or Christian based philosophy class. But a physics class? Seems like underhanded indoctrination to me, even for a Christian school.

What?
I'm a Christian, but I would be rather bothered by the idea of trying to make a religiously-oriented presentation of physics. I just looked that book up online, it seems like crap. Get a copy of University Physics from Amazon, they're prety cheap if you buy a used copy. If you want only algebra-based physics and don't want to mess with the calculus, you can try Giancoli's book. It's not the greatest, but it'll work and it can't possibly be worse than what you're reading now.

i LOVED ALL PHYSICS I EVER TOOK

but it ALL depends on the teacher.... makes or breaks it like most things that can be hard

I agree my active physics teacher was the greatest.

Like Matrix, I have found physics challenging. For my geology degree, I took PHYS-211x and PHYS 212x which is my university's calculus-based physics. Solving the end-of-the-chapter problems caused me emmense confusion over what math formula to use. Nonetheless, I did enough in both courses to squeaked by.

May the sum of the forces always equal mass times acceleration. (EF = ma)

~CGKings317

Yeah, that I'm going to have to take issue with. What does being a chemistry major have to do with it? If he doesn't understand the material well enough to teach, that's the issue. If he's not good at the teaching side of things, then that is the issue.

I don't know of a chemistry program at the college level that doesn't require two semesters of physics.

The fact that you have a physics book that was made with a religious slant is probably far more of an issue than your instructor. Unless he gives a sermon during class...

He doesn't give a sermon, but he did make us read last year an creationist apologetic last year at the chem. The slantings are annoying (more so in History, ugh), so I overlook them.

One extra twist to the recurring madness is that the 3 college-bound asked for the class which had no room in the period system, so it is a zero period (6:45 AM CST). I need help flossing my brain in the morning so I am not in a screw it mood when I get there.