Monday, August 29, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
HW2 / HW1 solutions
HW2 is out, due this coming Friday (not Wednesday, as implied by the calendar).
HW1 solutions are also out.
HW1 solutions are also out.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
Notes on electric forces and fields
My notes for the non-calculus class (PH102) may be handy from time to time. The next several day's material corresponds to Ch. 2-3 in the notes.
(warning, ~23Mb PDF file)
(warning, ~23Mb PDF file)
Survey responses
Based on the survey responses so far (after filtering out the ones from random internet hobos filling it out), pretty much everyone has more than enough math background for what we'll need to do. I will stick to the level implied by the math prerequisites for any required work, but in lectures I will show you a few extra things, just because it will help later on, and it will be really cool. Anyway: don't freak out too much about the math, I will teach/remind you what we need as it comes up.
HW1
By the way, I should mention that professors in general have a habit of recycling problems that they like. Maybe from the same course, maybe from a similar one ... but if it were me, I would try googling key phrases plus the professor's name. That, and just checking last year's problem sets.
I won't reuse problems a lot, but given that I (a) assigned homework on the first day, and (b) made it due on the second day, I thought I should give you a fighting chance.
I won't reuse problems a lot, but given that I (a) assigned homework on the first day, and (b) made it due on the second day, I thought I should give you a fighting chance.
Friday's class
Friday, we'll be starting to discuss electric forces and fields. We'll skip most of the beginning of chapter 21 in your text, since it is fairly descriptive stuff you can easily read about, and dive right in to calculating electric forces. This would be the last few sections of Ch. 21, and the beginning of Ch. 22. I'll go over some questions on the HW set as well.
If you're having trouble remembering some of the vector manipulation, I did write a short math guide some time ago (and never quite finished, but close). Hopefully the quick tour of vectors on Wednesday didn't scare too many of you away ... we will start out slowly and work our way up to the harder things.
For Monday, you should have already read Ch. 21 and 22 (or skimmed them at least, let's be realistic here).
If you're having trouble remembering some of the vector manipulation, I did write a short math guide some time ago (and never quite finished, but close). Hopefully the quick tour of vectors on Wednesday didn't scare too many of you away ... we will start out slowly and work our way up to the harder things.
For Monday, you should have already read Ch. 21 and 22 (or skimmed them at least, let's be realistic here).
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Today's slides
Here are the slides I used today [7Mb PDF], and a bunch I didn't use yet. Course information, contact info, and the vector stuff I talked about.
A quick survey
You all have a pretty diverse background, and I want to make sure that I'm not getting you in over your heads. It would be helpful for planning purposes if I knew a little about your math, programming, and electronics experience. Can you answer the following (very short!) survey?
The survey is totally anonymous, and the results will not be seen by anyone but me. It is really just to get a grasp of the baseline skills you're coming in with so I can tailor course topics (and especially the labs) to what most of you are comfortable with. Please answer as honestly as possible to make this as useful as possible to me; if you really don't feel like you understand one of the topics, don't select it (even if you think you're supposed to understand it).
The survey is here if you wouldn't mind ...
[If you're not in the class, and just saw this on Twitter/Facebook/etc, please answer "no" to the last question.]
The survey is totally anonymous, and the results will not be seen by anyone but me. It is really just to get a grasp of the baseline skills you're coming in with so I can tailor course topics (and especially the labs) to what most of you are comfortable with. Please answer as honestly as possible to make this as useful as possible to me; if you really don't feel like you understand one of the topics, don't select it (even if you think you're supposed to understand it).
The survey is here if you wouldn't mind ...
[If you're not in the class, and just saw this on Twitter/Facebook/etc, please answer "no" to the last question.]
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
HW1
Classes haven't yet started, but I already have your first homework set ready to go ...
Find it here, due Fri 26 Aug before midnight. I know that only gives you about 3 days, but it is very short. There are only four problems, and three of them are just math review. Only the fourth relates to material we'll cover in Wednesday's lecture (or see Ch. 21 in your text).
Anyway: I'll field any questions you might have about them in Friday's class.
Half-serious assignment: get yourselves on Google+ if at all possible. I think the 'hangouts' feature would be nice for office hours, and may try it. I have invites.
Find it here, due Fri 26 Aug before midnight. I know that only gives you about 3 days, but it is very short. There are only four problems, and three of them are just math review. Only the fourth relates to material we'll cover in Wednesday's lecture (or see Ch. 21 in your text).
Anyway: I'll field any questions you might have about them in Friday's class.
Half-serious assignment: get yourselves on Google+ if at all possible. I think the 'hangouts' feature would be nice for office hours, and may try it. I have invites.
First lab
Tomorrow, we'll do our first lab: an introduction to the Arduino microcontrollers we'll be using for the rest of the semester. Here is a writeup of the background information you'll need - don't worry if it doesn't make much sense at first, it really won't until you just start doing the experiments.
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