Preparing for General Physics: Math Skills Drills and Other Useful Help, Calculus Version

Pickar, Arnold D.

ISBN 10: 0201538024 / ISBN 13: 9780201538021

Published by Addison-Wesley, 1993

About this Item

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Preparing for General Physics: Math Skills Drills and Other Useful Help, Calculus Version
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley
• Publication Date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0201538024
• ISBN 13: 9780201538021
• Binding: paperback
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

Includes Rounds I-V. This self-study workbook provides review of algebra, trigonometry, and calculus topics for students enrolled in introductory physics. All examples relate directly to physics. Emphasis is placed on working with powers of 10 and order of magnitude estimating. Students write their answers in the text and then check their answers on the following page. Also discussing why math is important in physics; pretests; posttests.

About the Author

Before beginning his teaching career in 1963, Arnold Pickar made his connections with physics in a variety of contexts. He was an engineering officer in the merchant marine at the end of World War II and for several years thereafter. Later, working out of the Naval Research Laboratory, he helped develop airborne submarine detection devices and also built instrumentation for rocket-borne ionosphere studies. At the National Bureau of Standards, he studied spin interactions in paramagnetic substances at liquid helium temperatures. Finally, during his tenure at Portland State University, in connection with the Environmental Sciences and Resources Program, he investigated mechanisms of charge transport across lipid bilayer membranes induced by pesticides and other environmental toxins.

At PSU, besides this teaching and research in physics, he taught liberal arts courses on the history and social implications of science and technology. He also helped develop courses integrating physics, chemistry, and biology at both the high school and college science-majors levels.

It was in his teaching of general physics that he became acutely aware of the barriers that cause many otherwise excellent students to stumble pitifully when they encounter their first course in college physics. In response, he developed an evolving series of mini-courses which emphasized not only basic mathematical skills, but the ability to deal with word problems and to think pictorially and graphically. These remedial courses were the genesis of his books, Preparing for General Physics.

Arny is now retired but maintains an active association with Portland State - at least when he's not volunteering for a variety of causes or skiing and hiking.