@0celo7 Will answering questions on this site aid in understanding?

@abt Yes, if you're correct :P

It forces you to look up stuff and refresh your memory.

@0celo7 Is it easier to learn with a hard copy of a book, or with a pdf that has a working table of contents?

@abt I prefer print.

@abt When trying to explain something you are forced to express that which you think you already understand in a more coherent form than it usually exists in when you only think about it. It definitely aids in organizing your knowledge and in expressing it well.

@0celo7 Caveman :P

@ACuriousMind I have an abhorrent amount of pdf books and notes on my iPad :P

I actually have almost all of the books you mentioned, a few months ago I downloaded a lot of good pdf's that I have not read.

I was thinking whether or not I should buy the books anyway?

I like being able to put my finger on a certain page and read on, referring back to the page with my finger on it.

I'm not very rich, and this will probably cost at least $500 to begin with.

I mean shankar, wald, nakahara, zee

I thought you already had Wald?

It's a pdf.

Ah.

I got it from the university actually, they have pdf's and scans of many books.

I have those except Nakahara in print.

I want Nakahara in print though.

@abt Often many of the classics you can also buy second-hand or from restricted markets where the prices are cheaper (e.g. India, China). If you prefer print, that is.

You can actually go there and scan every page in a book and take the pdf with you.

Should I buy the books or should I buy a laptop? I wanted to do some work with mathematica or matlab, and also have a portable way of reading my pdf's.

I think either Shankar or Sakurai would be good. If you are done with Griffiths, you might want to look at Sakurai.

I cannot do both.

Sakurai introduces the notion of groups.

I didn't completely finish griffiths. I have done group theory from artin a bit if that's what you mean.

@abt Ask @ACuriousMind to quiz you on group theory. I promise he'll make you feel small and inferior.

Nvm that's not what you mean

I think I will not do that at this moment.

(He has that effect on everyone.)

What about physical mathematics?

It seems to be a good book, to pair with nakahara

By Cahill?

yes

@0celo7 ...really? I always thought I am perceived as warm and cuddly :)

@abt Eh, I'm not sure how much I recommend it at this point.

I have it right here.

I don't know most of it, probably only 20% at most scattered throughout.

It served me well as an intro to some topics, but I had to read other things to get the necessary depth.

Let me get it real quick.

Is that tamagotchi on the front page shared between everyone on the site?

@abt Does $$\delta(x-y)=\int_{\mathbb{R}}\frac{\mathrm{d}k}{2\pi}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}k( x - y)}$$ mean anything to you?

@0celo7 I don't have practice reading tex in that form. so wait

Oh, do you have ChatJax?

no

Top right corner

I got it.

No that does not really mean anything to me other than some similar functions.

Is that really bad or what?

So you don't know what the Dirac delta is?

I do.

I know the dirac delta function I mean.

So you know that that is the integral representation of the Dirac delta?

I didn't know that. I mean I didn't see it in that form or at least I don't remember.

Do you know what a Fourier transform is?

Yes

I guess I kind of do? I did it in differential equations to solve ode's

Do you know the Fourier inversion theorem?

Not by that name, I mean not really.

Did you know that, given a periodic function, one may decompose it as a sum of oscillators?

i.e. do you know about Fourier series?

Yes.

I'm not sure what you mean by knowing.

No I'm not an expert but I have read about it before.

You have Weinberg's QFT books?

1 of them

First one I assume?

yes

Does (1.2.2) make sense to you? i.e. because the field has certain boundary conditions we can Fourier expand?

In the book?

Yeah

I'm at school right now but I can look at a pdf online.

1 sec

I'm just going through some of the things in Cahill that I think are important

ok then

you wouldn't recommend any other mathematical methods book right?

Nakahara, but that's a lot more advanced.

I think Cahill is good for some sections. I'm not sure I'd buy it again.

any others?

Haven't tried any others.

Ok, so you know what a contour integral is, right?

are you implying that I should not bother with math books?

yes from complex variables I read about that.

No, I'm saying you should "obtain" a copy, but it's not worth 70 bucks.

Personally, I'd rather have a physical copy of Nakahara than Cahill.

By math books I meant books for mathematicians.

You didn't have many in your list.

Note that Cahill is undergraduate, Nakahara is graduate.

A good physics book will tell you most of what you need to know.

One more thing

how do you manage to take in what you learn? and to retain it

Ah, that's a tricky question.

Ask @ACuriousMind, sometimes I don't.

It's quite easy to forget the fundamentals.

sometimes I have trouble remembering things

usually if I do exercises I don't forget, but then I can't rely on those alone.

does thinking about stuff work?

I usually try to remember what books contain what topics where. For instance, if I want to look up something in complex analysis, I know exactly where in Cahill it is.

And what about taking notes?

Should I take notes?

I usually do not.

Though maybe that is why I forget things easily.

You can certainly take notes.

A good thing about digital books is that I can search for key words.

though only if they are not scanned. though some universities have software that can detect words in scanned pdf books.

You didn't mention anything about classical mechanics in your list. Have you done arnold, or goldstein level?

@abt True, but it is possible to get digital books from Springer with a university key.

@abt Ah, I forgot. I have read parts of Arnold.

Not terribly interesting IMO.

I really really like arnolds book.

It's my favourite book.

his exposition of the topics compared to landau or goldstein is great.

How far are you?

ch 1-3

and scattered parts

I've done classical mechanics from an easy book like taylor about a year ago.

Chap 7 is where it gets really hard, not to say that the rest of the book is easy.

off topic: did you even try for the f=ma exam?

I don't know what that is, so probably not.

you're far more qualified than any ipho gold medalist, so why don't you try it?

So do you know Cauchy's theorem, Cauchy's integral formula and the residue theorem?

I mean I cannot blame you, once you start learning about more advanced topics, things like physics olympiad become less motivated.

I know residue theorem

I don't remember the others by names.

brb

@abt Cauchy's theorem $$\oint f(z)\,\mathrm{d}z=0$$ for $f(z)$ analytic. Cauchy's integral formula $$f^{(n)}(z)=\frac{n!}{2\pi i}\oint \mathrm{d}w\,\frac{f(w)}{(w-z)^{n+1}}$$

I know the first one, not the second one.

I mean I've never really read a book in complex analysis, just wikipedia pages.

Second one is crucial in CFT and ST.

I think I should get started.

Do you suggest that

I read 1 book at a time?

I suggest getting Zee or Shankar.

both at once?

That's up to you.

I tend to learn better if I focus on one book, I mean to exhaust it for several hours a day and for weeks then move on.

I will do shankar first.

Sounds good.

when should I finish by?

@abt nscozzaro.blogspot.com/2012/03/…

I can't tell you that.

how long did it take you, for reference?

I really don't remember.

ok fair enough

later

bye

@ACuriousMind Chapter 9: "Fibre Bundles"

Finally!

She's baaaaaaaaaaaaaack (again)

@ACuriousMind I'm not looking forward to this. . .

@ACuriousMind Less than 400 rep to go

I see that you will get the general-relativity bronze badge far faster than I did ;)

Or rather, as your first rather than your fifth or so

Also...less than 400 rep to go to have 7000 rep to go?

I thought 3k was VTC?

Yeah, sure, I'm just teasing

3k is vote to close. I'm still working to get to 2k

@ACuriousMind at first I thought you might have been talking about Sofia. When I clicked on the link I was even less thrilled, if that's possible

What is 10k? (on phone)

@Sean Ditto.

@Sean I was referring to this (thus the (again)):

@0celo7 Cast deletion votes on downvoted closed questions, access to "moderator tools" which display a wealth of...not all that useful information

@ACuriousMind If only there was some distraught German who had an incentive to boost some American kid's rep to help with the VTC shortage...

@0celo7 Hehe...no, I'm not gonna be part of a (one-sided) voting ring. But I already gave you a little present ;)

Bounty?

Bounty.

Noice, thanks.

I think I'm gonna be quite generous with those now. So if anyone comes across interesting questions you think deserve a (better) answer, feel free to tell me.

Is it possible to rep yourself by creating a second account?

@0celo7 Possible? Yes. Allowed? No.

Or does the system check for rep coming from the same IP?

And the system is apparently quite good at catching sock-puppetry, although the details of the detection algorithm are secret

@ACuriousMind Am I the only one who thinks it's curious that Qmechanic asked which notes and then never said anything else?

Maybe he just didn't know I guess.

@0celo7 Not strange. That's always a good comment to leave when someone mentions "some notes" or "some paper".

Ah.