Taking physics without college algebra

[tennisball80]

Is it possible to take a first year algebra based physics cource without taking college algebra concurrently ?

I have algebra I, II, Geometry, and Trignometry taken in high school.

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[Dr Lyss]

As far as I know, unless your high school courses are APs or college credits and allow you to place out of the math prereq, you won't be able to take the class without fulfilling the prereq in college. You can check the requirements of the class or speak with the professor to find out more details.

 

[DrMattOglesby]

in my personal case, i took trig in high school and that proved sufficient enough to allow me to enroll into College Physics (trig based).
of course, i had to petition the requisite...and i did so by simply showing them my high school transcripts.

 

[135892]

Physics does involve quite a bit of math, but for Physics 1 and 2 at least, its not really too bad. So if you've felt comfortable with the math courses you've taken thus far, you should be fine. However, if you've never been too much of a math person, then maybe it would be a good idea to take some math classes and make sure you understand how to do everything. In physics, the professor will pretty much assume that you already know how to do the math, so if you're not to proficient in it, you may need to work a bit harder at it than others.

Best

 

[Katatonic]

I would make sure to take college algebra first, but Physics absolutely killed me. I took 2 terms of Calculus before it, but of course since it was algebra-based that helped nothing. If you know you're a master at manipulating equations for different situations, you'd probably be fine, but if not, a term of college algebra would be a good background and practice for Physics.

 

[GZA]

I will simply make this perhaps petty comment. When I took undergrad physics, your ability to succeed in the class, in my perhaps inane opinion, was more based on your mathematical abilities than upon any other factor. Of course I went to what would be considered a tough University. Regardless, physics certainly is a class that could be, although maybe thoughtlessly, called an applied mathematics course.

What am I trying to obliquely say? The more math you have the better you'll probably experience the ignoble premedical physics.

 

[Terpskins99]

Is it possible to take a first year algebra based physics cource without taking college algebra concurrently ?

I have algebra I, II, Geometry, and Trignometry taken in high school.

I don't get why anyone would take algebra in college if they already took it in high school (outside of perhaps math majors taking some funky experimental string-theory-meets-the-butterfly-effect algebra class). 🙄

Why don't you just take a regular physics course?

 

[175961]

The only college math class that I took was stats. I got credit through my local college while in high school and my math classes were among them. I took the algebra based physics and had no problems, sometimes my prof explained the derivations of the formulas and it was all calculus garbage and made no sense, but we werent required to know that and it was more FYI than anything else. I'm sure you'll be fine

 

[tennisball80]

I don't get why anyone would take algebra in college if they already took it in high school (outside of perhaps math majors taking some funky experimental string-theory-meets-the-butterfly-effect algebra class). 🙄

Why don't you just take a regular physics course?

You mean calculus based physics ? Because I'm not good with math. 🙂

 

[MilkmanAl]

I think when most people refer to "regular physics," they mean physics without calculus. At the very most, you'll only need to know how to do a basic derivative for calc-less physics.