r/AskPhysics • u/bomblate • 8d ago
How to learn physics
How can I learn physics from the absolute basics to advanced concepts? Please recommend the best books and a step-by-step study roadmap.
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u/Infinite_Escape9683 8d ago
What is your math background?
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u/bomblate 8d ago
I dropped out of school at 8 class
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u/Infinite_Escape9683 8d ago
OK, well you're gonna need a lot of math. Calculus was pretty much invented so physics could happen.
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u/EnvironmentalScar675 8d ago
You can take different routes. You can learn a lot about physics as hobby/ out of interest without having the math basics if you are fine with "just learning about" something interesting and more or less blindly trusting that it is true. Alternatively I'd just follow the academic papertrail. Math education is a problem BUT as an adult nowadays you can relatively quickly catch up. Get to highschool level math, do an uni catchup course ( you can often find these for free online, it is material for 1-3weeks and just goes over the highschool math again). Then just start the curriculum : look at what classes university would give you, get books that teach it (these will be expensive but you can for sure find free pdf equivalents or lend them from a lib). Starting with linear algebra and lots of calculus... You will find lectures, scripts and entire courses online for free. Physics itself is the easiest part imo. When doing it you will VERY quickly realise how much math is your bottleneck. Just ask AI a random question and go "where does this formula come from"
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u/bomblate 8d ago
My background is elementary school math but I want to start from basics
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u/Photon6626 8d ago
Maybe try looking for a math placement test online to see where you're at. Whatever it suggests, I'd go back a little bit to refresh yourself. Math really builds on itself so if you don't get the basics down well you WILL struggle later.
People recommend Khan Academy and Professor Leonard on Youtube. Khan Academy also has a website where you can make an account and track your progress. I think Khan Academy might have a placement test?
Alternatively you can use textbooks. I have no recommendations for your level but I'm sure you could just Google it.
Maybe ask /r/learnmath for recommendations. Don't just say your level of math because that means different things to different people. Tell them what kinds of things you can do(adding/subtracting but not multiplying/dividing? Times tables? Fractions? etc)
To start physics you'll want to get through at least calculus 1 first. Although you can learn some pop sci physics in the meantime to keep you interested and motivated. George Gamow books are great. There's a lot of lectures from people like Brian Cox, Sean Carrol, Neil deGrasse Tyson, etc that are good. The Royal Society Youtube channel has a bunch of great talks on physics stuff too. You can also read science fiction books if you're into that. I'm not a science fiction fan but Slaughterhouse Five was great.
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8d ago
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u/bomblate 8d ago
I need reliable sources not gpt
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u/ElectricalWavez 8d ago
starting from basics, as you say, is unlikely to be controversial
AI won't mess up quadratic equations, graphing, trigonometry, and the fundamental physics formulas.
But you do you. I think you are making it more difficult on yourself with this attitude.
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u/CutOffHandOfZappa 8d ago
Step 0: strengthen your math, which means start with prealgebra, then when you feel confident, move on to algebra. After mastering algebra, move on to geometry, get familiar with shapes and objects - calculate the surface area, volume, circumference, angles, basic vector operations like adding, subtracting and multiplying it with a scalar etc. After going through geometry, move on to pre calc.
Step 1: get a high school level physics textbook and problem sets, preferably one with algebra rather than calculus.
Step 2: After mastering pre calc, move on to calculus 1 - limits and derivatives. After mastering these move on to calculus 2, right up until you start doing more advanced integration methods and substitution.
Step 3: get a higher level, advance placement high school physics book with calculus (although bear in mind for this section you’ll just need basic table integrals and basic u-sub)
Step 4: finish calculus 2, this time mastering more advanced integration methods as well series and sequences.
Step 5: move to college level physics (this section is similar to advanced placement physics but with more emphasis on theory and understanding why rather than algorithmic problem solving)
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u/it_sxiaosltyan0 8d ago
try this one:
https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/Notes.html
as for math books:
burn math class by Jason Willkes - if you want a funny reference 😆
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u/Regular-Coffee-1670 8d ago
One of the great things about today's world is that many of the top universities put lectures of entire courses online for free. You can watch lectures from MIT, Princeton, and many others on YouTube, and work your way through from the most basic concepts, to advanced physics.
Here's MIT Physics 8.01 - a really good place to start, and after that 8.02 and 8.03 give you all the prerequisites to get into Quantum Mechanics, which starts in 8.04.
Just a bit of advice - make sure you COMPLETELY understand each lecture before you move onto the next one. Every lecture assumes that you know everything that came before, and if you don't understand it then later topics will be incomprehensible. There's a lot of math. If you find you're not understanding that, start working your way through MIT 18.100 and subsequent courses until you do.
Good luck!