Preface

This introductory electromagnetism and optics text is intended to be used in the second semester
of a two-semester series of courses teachingintroductory physicsat the college level, following a first
semester course in (Newtonian) mechanics and thermodynamics. The text is intended to support
teaching the material at a rapid, butadvancedlevel – it was developed to support teaching introduc-
tory calculus-based physics to potential physics majors, engineers, and other natural science majors
at Duke University over a period of more than twenty-five years.

Students who hope to succeed in learning physics from this text will need, as a minimum pre-
requisite, a solid grasp of mathematics. It is strongly recommendedthat all students have mas-
tered mathematics at least through single-variable differential calculus (typified by the AB advanced
placement test or a first-semester college calculus course). Students should also betaking(or have
completed) single variable integral calculus (typified by the BC advanced placement test or a second-
semester college calculus course). In the text it is presumed that students are competent in geometry,
trigonometry, algebra, and single variable calculus; more advancedmultivariate calculus is used in
a number of places but it is taught in context as it is needed and is always “separable” into two or
three independent one-dimensional integrals.

Many students are, unfortunatelyweak in their mastery of mathematics at the time they take
physics. This enormously complicates the process of learning for them, especially if they are years
removed from when they took their algebra, trig, and calculus classes as is frequently the case for
pre-medical students. For that reason, a separate supplementary text intendedspecifically to help
students of introductory physics quickly and efficiently review the required mathis being prepared
as a companion volume to all semesters of introductory physics. Indeed, it should really be quite
useful for any course being taught with any textbook series and not just this one.

This book is located here:

http://www.phy.duke.edu/∼rgb/Class/mathforintrophysics.php

and Istrongly suggestthat all students who are reading these words preparing to begin studying
physics pause for a moment, visit this site, and either download the pdf or bookmark the site.

Note thatWeek 0: How to Learn Physicsis not part of the courseper se, but I usually do a
quick review of this material (as well as the course structure, grading scheme, and so on) in my first
lecture of any given semester, the one where students are still finding the room, dropping and adding
courses, and one cannot present real content in good conscience unless you plan to do it again in
the second lecture as well. Studentsgreatly benefitfrom guidance on how to study, as most enter
physics thinking that they can master it with nothing but the memorization and rote learning skills
that have served them so well for their many other fact-based classes. Of course this is completely
false – physics isreasonbased andconceptualand it requires a very different pattern of study than
simply staring at and trying to memorize lists of formulae or examples.

Students, however, should not count on their instructor doing this – they need to be self-actualized
in their study from the beginning. It is thereforestrongly suggestedthat all students read this
preliminary chapter right away as their first “assignment” whetheror not it is covered in the first

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