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Unread 11-11-2004, 21:38
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Re: Memorization for Physics/Engineering

Quote:
Originally Posted by phrontist
  • The IBH Physics Equation sheet (Duh)
  • Gravitational Constant
  • Avogadro's Constant
  • Greek Alphabet
  • Inches-Centimeters Conversion factor
  • Trig Identities - Ah, but which should I really commit to memory? Which will really be useful in calculus? Which will be helpful in calculus?
From taking AP Chem and AP Physics last year, the Gravitational Constant and Avogadro's number just became second nature. Don't bother memorizing them if you're taking the course... repetitive use, as Mr. Flowerday said, will result in memorization. Plus, if you don't use it often, why bother memorizing it?

I wouldn't know why you'd want to memorize the greek alphabet... I guess many letters are used as physical constants and in formulas, but again, you'll know them by heart after doing problem sets (ugh).

I highly recommend memorizing certain trig identities for Calculus. It makes things go much faster. I agree with Karthik that knowing where everything comes from is important, but after you learn that, memorize it so you don't need to spend that extra 30 seconds deriving it. In Calc, the ones worth memorizing are the Trig derivatives:

(sinx)' = cosx
(tanx)' = (secx)^2
(secx)' = secxtanx

Use the co-rule for the derivatives of the co-functions.
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