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From Jonathan Gardner's Physics Notebook
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This is my notebook for physics stuff.

I earned by BS in Physics from the University of Washington in 2000. Although I haven't been able to keep up my math, I have been following the general news in the Physics community. As of 2012, I've decided to get serious about learning the math and theories at a graduate level, even though I am not pursuing my MS or PhD. Maybe if I make a million dollars that will be the first thing I do.

My day job is software development. I love doing it more than I love doing physics. Hopefully, one day I'll find a way to marry the two in a conducive way so I can get the best of both worlds. In that hope, I spend a little more attention than I should to computational physics, preferably in Python.

If you have comments or suggestions, or you find something wrong, email me at jgardner@jonathangardner.net.

Topics

  • Math:
    • On Math: These are some of my thoughts on math, from my perspective as a physicist.
    • Basic Math: By basic, I mean everything you should learn before you take the introductory course to "real" physics, namely, everything up to an including basic calculus.
    • Advanced Math: All the advanced theories of math from a physicists' perspective. (Note: Mathematicians will probably vomit at the way physicists like to treat these subjects. Torture or mutilation is a good description.)
  • Physics: How the world actually works.
    • Pre-Basic Physics: I try to describe some of the things you can know before you even approach physics mathematically.
    • Basic Physics: Here are some of the topics you'd expect a first or second-year physics undergrad student to learn, for example: Newtonian Mechanics, Basic Thermodynamics, special relativity, etc...
    • Advanced Physics: Here are some of the topics you'd expect a third or fourth-year physics undergrad to learn.
    • Graduate Physics: Here are some of the topics you'd expect a masters student to know.
  • Religion: Some people think you must be a humanist or atheist to enjoy physics. I believe the religious can find even greater joy in the subject.
  • Philosophy: Philosophists are physicists who never did any experiments, and are unwilling to accept reality the way it is.
  • Tools: I prefer open-source tools since you can modify them to suit your needs. Plus, they tend to work on more platforms and are good for your bottom line.
  • GRE
  • Theoretical vs. Experimental

Misc.