Did ya'll have trig b4 Physics??

[mamaMD]

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I am enrolling for the fall semester right now. I was planning on taking Chem 2, Physics 1, and College Algebra and an easy humanities online or something.

In my catalog the only pre-req for Physics 1 is Intermediate Algebra (which is just basically saying I can not be deficient in high school algebra). It says nothing about trig being a pre-req. For the engineering Physics it does state that calculas is a pre-req (I am not taking that one). But everyone is telling me I do need some trig before taking Physics. So even though my catalog doesn't say it is a pre-req, do I need to take trig first anyways? Math is *not* one of my strong points, I guess I am a B math student.

I oviously don't want to do poorly in any class so any input would be appreciated. I am thinking maybe I should take Chem 2 and Botany and College Algebra instead. But if I do that I will have to end up taking Physics with Ochem later on.

Ughhh I hate enrolling......

Any input would be nice 🙂

MamaMD

 

[EarlyEditionDude]

I would stick with your original schedule. It is not too hard or not too easy. It is balanced.

For physics, you really won't need trig. The only trig. that was done involved very simple ones like sin, cos, tan. and that shouldn't be that hard if you had algebra. However, if you plan to take calculus based physics, than Trig is a MUST!

 

[OSUdoc08]

Don't you have to take calculus to get into med school anyway? Trig is something I took in the 10th grade----you might want to catch up on math before you try your hand in physics---that's all it is.....cal-based or not.

 

[Doctor Peloncito]

If you are weak in math then I would wait to take trig until you're sure that your algebra skills are up. Trig will help, but I don't think it's requisite if you have a good handle on algebra.

My freshman year in college, I got the worst advice from a physics instructor. I was a Physics major, but only because I'd gotten a scholarship from the Air Force and they basically told me what I had to major in. I hadn't had calc yet and this bozo prof told me that I would be ok taking calc 1 and calc based physics at the same time. What an idiot I was for listening to him. I ended up flunking calc and withdrawing from physics. That was the worst scheduling decision of my life. Fortunately, I had the forsight to change my calc to cr/nc at the last minute when I saw that things were going south.

I guess the reason I'm telling this story is that I was in a hurry and tried to stack classes and it was the worst academic decision I could have made. Take your time. Do things at your own pace and you will come out sane and where you want to be.

good luck to ya,

wbdo

 

[group_theory]

Physics is basically applied math.

Although there are important concepts to learn and understand, the homeworks and exams will all be math

Trig is important. When you are taking classical mechanics, having an understanding of trig will help when you are dealing with forces at an angle (box on an incline plane, multiple masses connected to multiple ropes at differing angles, shooting a falling monkey at a distance, etc). You can probably get away with memorizing when to use cosine and sine (or tangent), but if the professor decides to "spice" up the problems on the exam, understanding trig will help you figure out how to tackle the problem.

For electricity and magnetism, you will need to understand sine and cosine because you are dealing with vectors. Magnetic fields, force projected from a moving charge, etc. If you deal with oscillation, whether harmonic or damped, trig will be important.

You will be dealing with dot products and cross products a lot in physics and they involve trig. So my advice, take trig before physics. Ideally, taking calculus before physics really helps but a lot of people take both concurrently.

Best of luck

 

[Doctor Peloncito]

Physics is basically applied math.

Although there are important concepts to learn and understand, the homeworks and exams will all be math

Trig is important. When you are taking classical mechanics, having an understanding of trig will help when you are dealing with forces at an angle (box on an incline plane, multiple masses connected to multiple ropes at differing angles, shooting a falling monkey at a distance, etc). You can probably get away with memorizing when to use cosine and sine (or tangent), but if the professor decides to "spice" up the problems on the exam, understanding trig will help you figure out how to tackle the problem.

For electricity and magnetism, you will need to understand sine and cosine because you are dealing with vectors. Magnetic fields, force projected from a moving charge, etc. If you deal with oscillation, whether harmonic or damped, trig will be important.

You will be dealing with dot products and cross products a lot in physics and they involve trig. So my advice, take trig before physics. Ideally, taking calculus before physics really helps but a lot of people take both concurrently.

Best of luck

I don't think you need to take calculus first unless you are going to take calc based physics. This is not required for 99% of med schools and I spoke with people who were hurt on the MCAT because they took calc based instead of trig based physics. Unless you are required to take it for your major, then don't take calc based physics. I do agree with group_theory though about taking trig first. It worked for me. Like I said, take things easy. No need to rush yourself and screw yourself over in the process.

 

[LP1CW]

You won't have a problem. It's really basic stuff. Just remember Soh Cah Toa

Setting up the problems in physics, figuring out what they are asking and solving is the hardest part. Set up the problems, draw, diagram, label, and the save the Algebra for last. You'll get most of the credit for just figuring out what they want and how to solve it. If you screw up the Algebra you'll only lose a few points. It's going to be just basic solving of equations, manipulation and finding unknowns. If you have trig, it's part of the equation and your calculator does the work.

 

[mamaMD]

Don't you have to take calculus to get into med school anyway? Trig is something I took in the 10th grade----you might want to catch up on math before you try your hand in physics---that's all it is.....cal-based or not.

The schools I will be applying at (Oklahoma State, OU, etc) do not require calculus, but I know the TX schools do so I suppose I might take it eventually if I want to apply down there.

But thanks for everyone advice. I'm still not sure yet what I am going to do for sure. The counselors at my school and the school cataloge all just say the only pre-req for Gen Physics 1 (which is not a calculas based course) is Intermediate Algebra (basically a high school level algebra class). I guess I just need to talk to some more people at my school to find out for sure what I need to do.

I am not trying to rush. My youngest daugher is 2 years old (my oldest is 6) so I am taking the next 3 years to finish this all up (I still have a lot to do though) I want my kids to be a bit older before I start med school, I plan on taking the MCAT in 2 years and was wanting to have physics done by then, I might just take it next year when I have have all my algebra and pre-calc class finished.

Thanks!

MamaMD

 

[CoverMe]

hi mamamd...

I'm finishing the second semester of physics right now, so let me give you my take on all this.

First of all, only about 20 MD schools in the US require calc. you're posting in a DO forum, so i'm not sure if you're more interested in those stats or not... in which case I don't know.

I had been out of hs for 9 years when i came back to school... i already had a bachelors, but essentially, there was no math required for it.

I took a brush-up course in algebra, then jumped right into pre-calc... which was all trig. My advisors were complete idiots, and told me i could take physics at the same time, but i talked to other students who warned me against it. thankfully, due to other scheduling concerns i knew it was going to take me about 3 years to get everything done anyway, so i held off.

The first semester of physics is mostly Newtonian... classical mechanics. Trig was very helpful right off the bat. When we were doing force tables or free body diagrams in lab, some of the people who i considered "smart" were constantly looking at my papers to see how I had done the work... just because Trig was still very fresh in my mind and it all made sense.

Something i've come to understand... is that if I listen to gunners or perhaps people who are just a hell of a lot smarter than I am, I'm going to run into trouble... but if i take my time, figure out exactly what i'm doing, and take the classes necessary to UNDERSTAND what the heck i'm doing, then not only are my grades higher, but i enjoy them much more because i know what's going on and it makes sense. Rote memorization is not the thing you want to be relying on in a couple of years when you take your MCATS... you want to have understood the material so you can apply it later.

 

[LP1CW]

Wait, wait, are you a postbac student? If so, don't take another math class. You can review the basic math that you need to be successful. The physics you're planning to take won't be that bad. Just review, practice, practice and get your skills back. You want to be able manipulate equations and solve for unknowns. It's not hard math. It's just math that you might not have seen in years. But to take another class is a waste of time and money.

You would be better off taking a class in genetics or biochemistry, if you're going to take extra classes. All you need, if you already have your BA, is gen chem, orgo, physics, and one year of bio.

 

[kaikai128]

I know it is just another opinion, but I will throw my two cents in. I am not a stellar math student, but I did remember my basic algebra and trig from high school. For my physics class, this was enough. There were times in which I would have to look at the example to see how they were doing the math that went along with the problem, but 95% of the time I was just fine without it. As long as you have a basic knowlege of high school algebra and trig, or are able to teach yourself that information...I think you would be fine to take the non-engineering Physics with no further math, most of the information I would have learned in another math class would have been above and beyond what was covered in my non-engineering algebra based Physics course.

Kai

 

[nate2973]

I am taking physics this fall. I had trig, but have been told that algebra is all you really need.

 

[hilikus]

I just got done with trig (pre-calc, why dont they just call it trig?) and will be taking physics in the fall. It had been almost 9 years since I had a college math class and that was business calculus. I did pretty well though, the class average was a C and I got a B. I really felt like I needed it for physics which I am taking this fall. My advisor tried to tell me it was ok to take them at the same time but being out of school for so long made me think twice and I am glad I did even if it was just a brush up class.

but you're the one who needs to make that decision. 100 people could post in here with 100 different opinions and strategies and not one could be right for you. So go with your gut.