PHYS 3260 · Undergraduate
Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences
The mathematics a physics major needs, in the order the physics needs it: series, complex numbers, linear algebra, vector calculus, Fourier analysis and differential equations.
What this course is
Listed in the KSU catalogue as Mathematical Physics.
Physics majors meet the same handful of mathematical structures over and over — a series that has to converge, a matrix that has to be diagonalised, a boundary condition that picks one solution out of a family. This course covers them once, carefully, in the order the physics curriculum will ask for them.
The course site carries the full notes, with interactive figures and equations that can be copied.
How the course runs
- Notes. Read the chapter before the lecture. The lecture assumes it.
- Homework. One problem set per chapter, submitted through the LMS.
- Project. A term project in which a student takes one method from the course and applies it to a problem they choose. The projects page has worked examples of the format and what a good one looks like.
Prerequisites
Calculus through multivariable, and the introductory physics sequence. No prior linear algebra or differential equations is assumed — both are built from the beginning here.
Contents
Read from the course site. This list is taken from the notes as they were last built.
- Math Review for Calculus-Based PhysicsChapter 0
- Infinite Series and Power SeriesChapter 1
- Complex NumbersChapter 2
- Linear AlgebraChapter 3
- Partial DifferentiationChapter 4
- Multiple Integrals; Applications of IntegrationChapter 5
- Vector AnalysisChapter 6
- Fourier Series and TransformsChapter 7
- Ordinary Differential EquationsChapter 8
- Series Solutions of Ordinary Differential Equations (Chapter 12)Chapter 9
- Partial Differential Equations (Chapter 13)Chapter 10