Difference between revisions of "Self-diagnostic test"

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(Self-diagnostic test to identify strengths and weaknesses before beginning PhD or Masters coursework)
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** Chapter 1 Problem 29 - Commutation Relations with Functions
 
** Chapter 1 Problem 29 - Commutation Relations with Functions
 
* Griffiths Quantum Mechanics (Second Edition) - [http://physicspages.com/Griffiths%20QM.html PhysicsPages.com Solutions]
 
* Griffiths Quantum Mechanics (Second Edition) - [http://physicspages.com/Griffiths%20QM.html PhysicsPages.com Solutions]
** Problem 2.14 - Simple Harmonic Oscillator Calculations
+
** Problem 2.14 - Simple Harmonic Oscillator  
 
** Problem 7.1 - Variational Method
 
** Problem 7.1 - Variational Method
 
* Zettili Quantum Mechanics (Second Edition) - [https://sbucomps.wordpress.com/ Steven Sagona's comprehensive exam study website has solutions], also [[Quantum_Mechanics|Similar Solutions available in QM comprehensive exam resources]]
 
* Zettili Quantum Mechanics (Second Edition) - [https://sbucomps.wordpress.com/ Steven Sagona's comprehensive exam study website has solutions], also [[Quantum_Mechanics|Similar Solutions available in QM comprehensive exam resources]]
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** Last question of chapter 2 section 7, page 16 - Conservation of Momentum
 
** Last question of chapter 2 section 7, page 16 - Conservation of Momentum
 
* Taylor Classical Mechanics (First Edition) - [[Classical_Mechanics|Similar Solutions available in CM comprehensive exam resources]]
 
* Taylor Classical Mechanics (First Edition) - [[Classical_Mechanics|Similar Solutions available in CM comprehensive exam resources]]
** Problem 5.40 - Resonance in Damped and Driven Oscillators
+
** Problem 5.40 - Resonance  
 
** Problem 11.4 - Normal Modes of Coupled Systems
 
** Problem 11.4 - Normal Modes of Coupled Systems
 
* Goldstein Classical Mechanics (Third Edition) - [http://grad08.physics.sunysb.edu/resources/Goldstein-classical-mechanics-3rd-edition.pdf Textbook]
 
* Goldstein Classical Mechanics (Third Edition) - [http://grad08.physics.sunysb.edu/resources/Goldstein-classical-mechanics-3rd-edition.pdf Textbook]
** Problem 3.19 - Orbital Motion, Forces and Potentials
+
** Problem 3.19 - Orbital Motion
** Problem 8.15 - Hamiltonian's and Lagrangians
+
** Problem 8.15 - Hamiltonians and Lagrangians
  
  

Revision as of 02:50, 16 June 2019

Coming in to Stony Brook's graduate coursework can be a bit disorienting. The core courses are rather difficult for people who have not taken similar difficulty courses in the past, and so former students have compiled a set of characteristic questions from undergraduate textbooks that they believe give a taste of what you will be expected to have seen before.

The idea, to some extent, is that if you have significant difficulty understanding or solving these problems then you should schedule knowing that you will likely need to put extra effort into the respective core courses. Some people who are already comfortable with the core course materials are able to take 3 or 4 courses at once in the first semester, but this is often not very fun or healthy or academically advisable - so if more than half of these questions are new ideas or highly non-trivial for you then please avoid doing too much in your first semesters.

Self-diagnostic test to identify strengths and weaknesses before beginning PhD or Masters coursework

PDF with all the questions listed provided here

Quantum Mechanics

Electromagnetism

Classical Mechanics

  • Landau and Lifshitz Classical Mechanics (Third Edition) - Textbook
    • Problem 1.1 - Double Pendulum
    • Last question of chapter 2 section 7, page 16 - Conservation of Momentum
  • Taylor Classical Mechanics (First Edition) - Similar Solutions available in CM comprehensive exam resources
    • Problem 5.40 - Resonance
    • Problem 11.4 - Normal Modes of Coupled Systems
  • Goldstein Classical Mechanics (Third Edition) - Textbook
    • Problem 3.19 - Orbital Motion
    • Problem 8.15 - Hamiltonians and Lagrangians


Statistical Mechanics