Introductory Mathematics for Physicists 2 Syllabus
Instructor
Rennan Barkana
Email: barkana@tau.ac.il
Academic Year, Semesters
Spring semester
Number of Hours/ Credits
4 lecture + 2 rec.
Mandatory/Elective
Mandatory
Prerequisites
Introductory Mathematics for Physicists 1, Calculus 1A for Physicists
Year in program & how often given, if relevant
Year 1, given every year
Course overview – short abstract
This course gives first-year physics students further mathematical technical skills that are necessary for the physics courses being taken during their first and second years. Material includes linear algebra (skipped by students who learn this in Math or other departments), vector analysis, and an introduction to tensor analysis.
Learning outcomes – short description (if you don’t have LOs, then don’t write anything in this part)
Assessment: coursework and grade structure
Assignments – 10%
Final exam – 90%
Week-by-week content, assignments and reading
Week 1: Parametric curves, basics of scalar and vector fields
Week 2: Line, area, and volume integrals
Week 3: Gradient, divergence, curl
Week 4: Gauss, Stokes, Green theorems
Week 5: Vectors in general coordinate systems
Week 6: Linear algebra: Linear equations, Gauss-Jordan elimination
Week 7: Sets, groups
Week 8: Fields, Vector spaces
Week 9: Basis of a vector space, Matrices
Week 10: Inner and outer product, Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization
Week 11: Linear mappings, similarity transformations
Week 12: Eigenvalues, diagonalization of matrices
Week 13: Intro to Tensor analysis
Required text: None
