Ask HN: Best way to learn physics? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Best way to learn physics?

8 pointshoonah8 comments

I have a good foundation in mathematics and I'm interested in learning about physics. What's the best way to learn physics from first principles?

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Here is a guide made by Nobel laureate Gerard 't Hooft: http://www.staff.science.uu.nl/~gadda001/goodtheorist/index....

Or, to learn basic physics in a structured and rigorous way, you could take this course (but it's quite expensive): http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/modules/s217

Get a few lower division (first few years of undergraduate) textbooks and start reading. Work the problems at the end of each chapter. Ideally find books with solutions or at least the answers, so you can work these problems until you understand them. When you get stuck, find someone you can go to, or consult other texts which often give a slightly different, often very helpful, point of view. Also ideally, you would have access to a library so that you can get a few texts.

Personally, I believe the best way to learn anything hard is by enrolling in a course. Having some kind of commitment, and looming consequence, forces you to work through the inevitable tough patches. You can also get a lot of help from classmates, and or learn a lot from helping classmates. They can also be a social support network.

Regarding your comment in the thread, you might want to make sure that it is physics that you want to learn. Physics is more the study of how things are, the nature of reality, rather than 'why' reality is a certain way. There are not many satisfying answers to questions like "why does light have wave and particle properties", but this might be semantics. Physics explains a lot about what we observe. I get a lot of pleasure out of knowing why the sky is blue, how a rainbow is formed, etc. My BS in Physics is an excellent foundation for what I do now, which is radar oceanography.

http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/ All free and ready for you to enjoy!

I would recommend the Feynman lectures for advanced undergraduates in physics. I don't think a beginner would be able to fully appreciate them. That said, if you've got great math skills, it might be worth a shot.

I think it depends on what value is expected from obtaining the physics knowledge...that is solving engineering problems is different from astronomy is different from becoming a more well rounded individual. The best approach to each entails different levels of formality as does the best approach to each for each individual.

What about physics interests you?

I'm curious about how the universe works and want to understand why things are the way they are.

That's quite vague. Best to start at the bottom and work your way up. As in take the undergrad route until something tickles your fancy.

If you're still in college/university, enrol in an undergraduate introductory physics course. If you don't have time for that, go to the library and borrow whatever text book it is they use for those courses. Alternately, just browse the physics department shelves in the library and read whatever book catches your fancy.

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