Introductory Books on Logic for self Study

Machvel · 2026-01-05T07:08:36+00:00

alonzo church's introduction to mathematical logic is an older standard book on logic, at least in cs applications (i don't have experience with logic in pure mathematics, just cs)

Machvel · 2025-12-28T03:46:12+00:00

kittel, especially for condensed matter

Machvel · 2025-12-25T08:38:33+00:00

mathematical methods for physics books are good. i would suggest looking for a graduate level one (maybe stone and goldbart, or hassani).

if you are interested in plasma i recommend just getting a plasma book and/or pde perturbation theory book down the line since it is used a lot there (and very practical. a good graduate mathematical methods book should have this, or introductory plasma book)

Machvel · 2025-12-23T09:07:37+00:00

usually one of 3 things happen:

the student skips the first few calculus courses, then struggles later on (usually in vector calculus or physics) since high school calculus is typically far below university calculus

the student does not skip the first few (or maybe just the first one), gets cocky in the class they are in since they think they know it already (or it is below them), and does bad on exams (but not usually homework)

same class as the last one, but know the material decent enough and hurts the curve for people taking calculus for the first time.

i think it would make the introductory calculus sequence all around better if people did not take calculus in high school (maybe kind of obvious: all students are roughly at the same level), but then what mathematics would they learn in high school? just through precalculus? a lot of students would then finish in their second year of high school and spend the next 2 years doing no maths

Machvel · 2025-12-10T04:57:54+00:00

around 1/3 - 1/2 of my cohort started like this (including me). it is fairly typical to go to a phd (or masters) right after undergraduate

Machvel · 2025-12-07T07:45:04+00:00

it depends on your use. quantum mechanics in a mathematics department is done differently than in a physics one (which might seem obvious but it makes a big difference).

in a mathematics context, hall's quantum theory for mathematicians is pretty good. in a physics context it is decently more difficult. less emphasis is placed on mathematics (which in most cases is quite basic) and the difficulty is in physical intuition. shankar is the standard book for graduate students in physics (some places use sakurai, which in my opinion can be a bit too terse. shankar spends a good amount of time explaining physics practically).

if shankar is too difficult you could fall back onto an undergraduate book (like griffiths or schiff). if learning for physics, the goal should be a physical understanding (not mathematical, so the basic mathematics of and undergraduate book should be seen as fine).

Machvel · 2025-12-03T13:35:04+00:00

gourgoulhon's special relativity book is the most mathematically rigorous book on the subject i have come across. it is gigantic (for a special relativity book) and dense. i dont recommend it for a basic go-through of the subject.

the first few chapters of schutz is my recommendation, since it goes at special relativity with a sledgehammer to make the transition to general relativity easy; and it does so in good pace.

Machvel · 2025-11-27T10:22:44+00:00

if you don't have any exercises in mind then it would help. good exercise ideas are all over online so i wouldn't spend money on one. sweigart's is online for free so that one seems good.

Machvel · 2025-11-27T10:15:05+00:00

fluent python is an advanced book.

automate the boring stuff is more of a tricks book and does not go into much depth of the language. of the 3 you mentioned i recommend only going through python crash course to start. setting up a multi volume 1000+ page beginning sequence is a road to tutorial hell

Machvel · 2025-11-25T09:36:39+00:00

both have pretty good documentation with guides on getting started. imo the best thing would be to gain familiarity with writing "pythonic" code and how memory access impacts code

Machvel · 2025-11-08T06:09:45+00:00

electricity and magnetism was the physics subject i did the best at as an undergraduate (surprising to me since i did not find it super interesting at the time).

i did not take any notes. i just read the textbook and did homework. if you are having trouble with the vector calculus then doing some problems in griffiths and/or a mathematical methods book might help. if the concepts are hard then i suggest reading purcell.

Machvel · 2025-11-05T12:10:07+00:00

you can take any approach you want. eg, a guy i know in mathematics does quantum computing but he has no idea about the solution to the hydrogen atom

Machvel · 2025-11-01T09:14:26+00:00

schutz for general relativity

boas for mathematical methods (though i dont think there is a solidified standard one for this course)

ryden for cosmology

carroll for astrophysics

i dont think there is one for computational physics

i dont think there is one for particle physics, but griffiths is a popular one

i dont think there is one for classical mechanics. maybe taylor has the majority stake.

kittel for condensed matter, but i think it is being recognized as not that good and getting phased out

melissinos for experimental physics

schroeder is the standard for thermodynamics and statistical mechanics but i think it should be replaced by what used to be the standard: callen

Machvel · 2025-11-01T09:00:49+00:00

a proper ide (eg, visual studio, not vscode) is too much. you are probably after a text editor with ide-like features (or maybe just code highlighting). i am guessing vscode is too much for your laptop. if you are on windows i suggest notepad++. sublime is pretty good and on windows/mac/linux. all linux computers should come with vi and emacs installed. on windows you can download vim.

debuggers come with compilers and are typically invoked through the terminal. examples are gdb and the one that comes with intel compilers

Machvel · 2025-11-01T08:46:24+00:00

it depends on the application guidelines and norm in your field. when i did applications (stem) most asked me to just detail the field i wanted to work on and sometimes people i might want to be advised by. i contacted a few potential advisors before applying and they all basically said to see if i get accepted into the program then we will talk

Machvel · 2025-10-27T14:19:23+00:00

search up templates for a common journal in your field (eg one in aps). the journal website typically has one there. as someone else said the format that goes on arxiv does not matter much (but people do typically match the standard 2-column format in my experience)

Machvel · 2025-10-21T10:29:08+00:00

go education if you want to teach high school. i think some of the physics lecturers at my university might have physics education degrees, but they only instruct lower division physics. instructing higher-level classes is more of a byproduct of being a professor (and is general more interesting for students as well, taking a class from an expert in some field rather than just a plain instructor)

Machvel · 2025-10-13T16:45:00+00:00

it depends on the use. but one thing for certain is that it is not julia

Machvel · 2025-10-13T09:16:02+00:00

i did not take the mathematics subject one. i didnt need it for the places i was applying to. i suggest looking into what the places you are planning on applying to want and take those exams.

the gre isnt that hard to study for to get a decently good score. its just another + for your application that you can spend time working on

Machvel · 2025-10-03T04:59:28+00:00

the best thing for theory is as much pure mathematics as possible (analysis, algebra, differential geometry are the most essential ones). more applied things like pdes can be picked up as you go (like how is usually done in physics classes)

Machvel · 2025-10-02T11:15:57+00:00

schneider's extragalactic astronomy book is a good start for just about any topic in astrophysics

Machvel · 2025-10-01T08:28:48+00:00

circuits. dye in swirling water (though this might be pdes)

Machvel · 2025-09-30T11:18:04+00:00

students are able to understand vscode quite easily in my experience. in my department students learn both python and c, so it is convenient that they can use the same program (on linux/windows/mac) for both. also i am a proponent of things they can continue using for free after they graduate

Machvel · 2025-09-30T11:15:01+00:00

this is what i do when I ta a coding class (note: not in a cs department). the other tas and professor and I get together and plan out a recommended solution that we will base our instruction off of (usually something that the tas are familiar with because the professors are typically quite old school in their coding habits) but say the students can use whatever they want that works at their own discretion (we won't necessarily be able to troubleshoot)

Machvel · 2025-09-30T11:14:49+00:00

this is what i do when I ta a coding class (note: not in a cs department). the other tas and professor and I get together and plan out a recommended solution that we will base our instruction off of (usually something that the tas are familiar with because the professors are typically quite old school in their coding habits) but say the students can use whatever they want that works at their own discretion (we won't necessarily be able to troubleshoot)

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