Physics w/ Calculus

[PreMed4Dummies]

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Hey everyone,

I'm going to be taking Physics I with calc I as a prereq in a few weeks. Its been about 2 years since I took calc I and I definitely need to brush up on a lot. For those of you who have taken physics w/ calc: which parts of calc I are most necessary for understanding physics I concepts? I'm assuming that derivatives are used in kinematics, but what else is important?

Thanks in advance.

 

[smuwillobrien]

I think that the main thing to take from calculus is how to derivate... certain things like integration, area under a curve, sums and series, ... that will be important for higher level physics.

 

[jochi1543]

Derivatives (pretty simple), integration (can be more advanced). It depends on your prof, too. In one physics class, he had us remember how to do integrals for everything, and in another, the prof gave us a reference sheet of standard integrals, so you didn't have to memorize all 20 types of them.

 

[misterex]

Derivatives and integration, but they're fairly easy ones when compared to the stuff you did in Calc.

 

[littlealex]

Calculus involved in intro-level physics is really very minimal. Understanding the CONCEPT of calculus, and how to setup integrals to solve specific problems are probably the most important part.

The actual integrals/derivatives are easy.

 

[PreMed4Dummies]

okay thanks for the input.

my college only offers calc-basd physics... so is there any advantage of taking calc-based physics vs. algebra based physics come MCAT time? because as I understand it MCAT physics doesn't require calculus.

 

[MassTransport]

I took calc-based physics, and I thought the physics passages were a joke. I think it'll depend entirely on how well your professor teaches the material and how you can grasp the underlying concepts of energy and motion.

 

[ADeadLois]

Keep in mind that Physics on the MCAT requires very little to no calculus.

 

[misterex]

Calc-based physics teaches you the concept and how to derive the formula so you don't have to memorize it like you would in an algebra based class.