So I recently decided that I want to study cosmology, hopefully go to college for it but I'm just starting out. So I plan to study a lot over the next few months. I'm looking for textbooks like the ones in school, you read a chapter and at the end there are questions. I'm also trying to learn more about physics because I know the two relate.
If you could point out some good books I could use I would appreciate it :)
If you could point out some good books I could use I would appreciate it :)
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If you're near a college library, you might want to consider having a look at the "Feynman Lectures on Physics". It's a 3-book set and it's pretty much a classic in college introduction textbooks on physics. I'd recommend that you pick the first volume and read the first three chapters. If there's no library around, you can go to Amazon for example, search for that title and click on the book's cover image to browse the first pages.
If you're on a tight budget, you might consider instead these:
- http://www.lightandmatter.com/
It has volumes available for Calculus, Mechanics, Light & Matter, etc. The "Light & Matter" title seems to be the most developed one, but others might be worth taking a look.
-- EDIT --
No, but it is the bread-and-butter. You should also learn linear algebra.
Calculus involves things such as calculating tiny variations (differential calculus), summing over a range (integral calculus), calculating limits, etc. Although for some small things you can get by with calculus that you've learnt in high school, it's common to come up with things that draw up on calculus.
Let me give you an example: writing a real function (takes a real number, gives a real number) as a Taylor series or a Maclaurin series. Do you remember (vaguely) learning the algorithm for calculating the square root of a number (on paper, not just punching the numbers on the calculator)? If you don't remember, it ALMOST looks like simple division as you learn in primary school, but the rules are slightly different. Anyway, I remember learning that in high school, and having to memorize the steps -- but not quite understanding why I'd have to square that "quotient" there (well, not that strange) and putting the double of a quantity over there, etc. In other words, the "rules" for doing a square root by hand seemed arbitrary and "magic". But then when you learn calculus and get to the part where you learn to write functions as approximations, basically as sums of steps and variations of steps, you get to things like this approximation:
If you're on a tight budget, you might consider instead these:
- http://www.lightandmatter.com/
It has volumes available for Calculus, Mechanics, Light & Matter, etc. The "Light & Matter" title seems to be the most developed one, but others might be worth taking a look.
-- EDIT --
would calculus be the only math related subject I should focus on?
No, but it is the bread-and-butter. You should also learn linear algebra.
Calculus involves things such as calculating tiny variations (differential calculus), summing over a range (integral calculus), calculating limits, etc. Although for some small things you can get by with calculus that you've learnt in high school, it's common to come up with things that draw up on calculus.
Let me give you an example: writing a real function (takes a real number, gives a real number) as a Taylor series or a Maclaurin series. Do you remember (vaguely) learning the algorithm for calculating the square root of a number (on paper, not just punching the numbers on the calculator)? If you don't remember, it ALMOST looks like simple division as you learn in primary school, but the rules are slightly different. Anyway, I remember learning that in high school, and having to memorize the steps -- but not quite understanding why I'd have to square that "quotient" there (well, not that strange) and putting the double of a quantity over there, etc. In other words, the "rules" for doing a square root by hand seemed arbitrary and "magic". But then when you learn calculus and get to the part where you learn to write functions as approximations, basically as sums of steps and variations of steps, you get to things like this approximation:
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