Customer Reviews

Schaum's Outline of College Physics, 10th edition (Schaum's Outline Series)

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Many freshman college physics textbooks are just awful. They often go on and on about what is obvious and gloss over the finer points...and of course there are no examples. This is where this book comes in. As in all Schaum's outlines, for each topic there are a few pages of theory including equations, then some problems with the solutions worked out extensively, and then finally some problems with the answers but no extensive solution. The format of the outline is the same that you should expect in any two semester college freshman physics sequence. The first part of the book is an explanation of vectors, newtonian mechanics, fluids, and thermodynamics. The second part of the book follows the usual second semester of freshman physics - electricity, magnetism, and optics. The final seven chapters of the outline are an introduction to modern physics, which engineers and physics students would normally take after they finish the two semester freshman physics sequence. A note of caution - do not buy the attractively named "Schaums Outline of Physics for Engineering and Science". It is chocked full of errors! Instead, stay with this old reliable title. It is the best. This is the very recently released 10th edition, so Amazon does not show the table of contents. I do that here so you can compare it to the 9th edition and see if it is worth the upgrade.
Speed, Displacement, and Velocity: An Introduction to Vectors
Uniformly Accelerated Motion
Newton's Laws
Equilibrium Under the Action of Concurrent Forces
Equilibrium of a Rigid Body Under Coplanar Forces
Work, Energy, and Power
Simple Machines
Impulse and Momentum
Angular Motion in a Plane
Rigid-Body Rotation
Simple Harmonic Motion and Springs
Density; Elasticity
Fluids at Rest
Fluids in Motion
Thermal Expansion
Temperature
Ideal Gases
Kinetic Theory
Heat Quantities
Transfer of Thermal Energy
First Law of Thermodynamics
Entropy and the Second Law
Wave Motion
Sound
Coulomb's Law and Electric Fields
Electric Potential; Capacitance
Current, Resistance, and Ohm's Law
Electrical Power
Equivalent Resistance; Simple Circuits
Kirchhoff's Laws
Forces in Magnetic Fields
Sources of Magnetic Fields
Induced EMF; Magnetic Flux
Electric Generators and Motors
Inductance; R-C and R-L Time Constants
Alternating Current
Reflection of Light
Refraction of Light
Thin Lenses
Optical Instruments
Interference and Diffraction of Light
Relativity
Quantum Physics and Wave Mechanics
The Hydrogen Atom
Multielectron Atoms
Pauli exclusion principle
Nuclei and Radioactivity
Applied Nuclear Physics
Appendix A Significant Figures
Appendix B Trigonometry Needed for College Physics
Appendix C Exponents
Appendix D Logarithms
Appendix E Prefixes for Multiples of SI Units; The Greek Alphabet
Appendix F Factors for Conversions to SI Units
Appendix G Physical Constants

This book is meant as an aid for a student taking a College Physics course based on Algebra, and not on Calculus. It covers all of the major topics for General Physics I and II, from Classical Physics, including vectors, kinematics, and dynamics all the way through Modern Physics, including Relativity and Nuclear Physics.

As is the case with all of the books of the Schaum's Outline series, this particular volume is a supplement and is not intended to replace your textbook or your professor. It is really meant for someone who has already grappled with the material from a textbook and has some idea of the concepts already. If you are approaching the material for the first time, I would advise you to steer clear of this book until you have approached it from another source. Also, if you are searching for a book with a really qualitative or intuitive approach to Physics, or one with lengthy explanations, I would recommend looking for another book. If you are looking for a supplement that you can read prior to your textbook, or for a supplement that doesn't read like a condensed textbook (as this one does), I would recommend something like Physics for Dummies.

That said, the book is divided up into various short chapters. I like that the chapters are not especially long and that while most conventional textbooks would group them into one giant chapter, this book breaks them down. For example, Coloumb's Law and Capacitance are divided into two chapters. There is a terse run-through of the material pertaining to the concept (usually they are about 1-2 pages long). If you already have tried to read your textbook, this book will probably help you, as it hits the highlights and gives you a better idea of the broad picture, allowing you to integrate your information. There are some helpful figures as well.

While the summary is useful, it does miss out on some details and does not go into proofs of equations, and it does not offer a deep, intuitive break down of the concepts. For example, the book says "the equations of motion are related graphically," but the authors have not included or explained the graphs in the text. They assume that you have a textbook to explain those details. In short, I can see this being particularly useful right before an exam as a quick review, but not as a primary learning source.

After the summary of the concepts, there is a section of worked problems, and a section of supplementary problems that are not worked, but to which answers are provided. The book has a plethora of problems that will test your understanding of the subject matter. The best way to learn Physics is to do problems constantly, and this book really forces you to figure out how to problem solve. The questions range from easy to difficult, and many problems are likely to challenge you.

While the problems are very helpful in reinforcing what you have learned, I do have a few minor issues. Sometimes the explanations of the worked problems can be a little too brief, and can be a little confusing. I would also have liked to see all of the problems worked through (but I do believe Schaum's has a book of 3000 fully worked problems). My biggest problem is with the formatting of the Supplemental Problems, as the editors have placed the answers right next to the questions! It is impossible not to see them. I think they should have put the answers in the back of the book.

I would say that this is an excellent resource for quick brush-ups and for problem solving help. I wish that some of the explanations of the concepts had been a little more detailed, but this is one of the best General Physics aids that I have found. I must stress once again that this book is NOT a replacement for your textbook, and that it is not some sort of shortcut or miracle book. You will have to put in a lot of work to understand Physics, and studying the summaries and problems in this book will certainly give you more confidence, and will allow you to tackle the problems set by your teacher with greater ease. This book has really helped me out.

Thank you for reading my review! Please rate, so I know whether it was of any help to you.

I wore out two copies of this Schaum's Outline of College Physics over the years. This is the Physics review book geared towards courses using Algebra and not Calculus. The Calculus based Outline, Physics for Engineering and Science, utilizes more rigorous mathematics, requires a greater comfort level with abstraction and is, unfortunately, notorious for its typos. I find that learning Physics, which is daunting enough, can be traumatic if you are simultaneously worried about mathematics AND errors. Freshman Physics is pretty universal in its design, but not so universal in its implementation when it concerns mathematics and rigor. This book presents essentially the same Physics topics as the Calc based one. It's filled with some nice examples, good and clear explanations and many solved problems. If your Physics course is Algebra based, then this book is more than sufficient review. Just do as many problems as you can until the material is part of your genetic structure!

Oh my,I absolutely love this book!! It is by far the most useful supplementary book I've ever used! I had a horrible AP physics teacher and textbook in high school, but this book saved me. The example problems in the book show us almost all the techniques we will ever need to know for introductory physics. It's easy-to-understand, yet sophisticated enough to be useful for college physics. It covers just the right material. I've personally found that in order to do well in physics, one has to be very good at recognizing what strategies are needed for a problem and then knowing how to apply thosee techniques; studying this book helps us with just that.

The way I do it is, for each chapter first I read through the summary (not long; just about a page), then I carefully read through most of the problems, and then put the word "key" next to the few problems that I know I must absolutely internalize because they contain crucial techniques. When tests roll around, I will study those "key" problems and if time allows, the other ones as well. And if you want to do really really well on tests, make sure you take a look at the last few advanced problems as well.

I am in an intro physics course in college right now, and I still find this book useful. This book helped me aced the AP, and is helping me stay in the top portion of my class right now. And, it's helping me appreciate physics more because I have the confidence to tackle problems. It takes some time to get stuff out of it. But if you put the time into it, this book will be soooo helpful to you!! :)

Our school uses "Physics for Scientists and Engineers" by Serway and Jewett. The Schaum book of problems teaches some tougher concepts in a less complicated way. It's a "worth-your-time & effort" supplement to any calc-based physics book.

I bought this book along with the "3000 Solved Problems In Physics" and the "3000 Solved Problems In Physics" is a better book, but still each author has a very good manner of explaination. I would certainly recommend it. It is a very good aid to understanding.

I have a BSc and a lot of graduate work in Physics so when I started home schooling my son for the AP Physics B exam I got some standard texts - Sears and Zemansky (11th edition), and Giancoli, and some AP study guides - and Schaum's. I gave up on the others and am sticking with Schaum's. My son is working hard but getting it. I know from having tried them early on that he would have had no chance with the expensive standard texts or the study guides alone. The way to do Physics is to do Physics and that means solving problems, seeing how to solve problems, and then solving more problems. All the pretty pictures and clever "aids" are useless. Problems, problems, problems. Then more problems. See a pattern here? This has a lot of problems, many are worked out in detail, and then problems like those are given with just the answers. After we finish this we will work on the the study guides which look useful, just 'sketchy' on the basics - they are only review books, after all.

Even if you are in a calculus-based physics class, Schaum's will answer 80%-90% of your homework questions. You could probably get a A or B+ in a calc-based class with just this book alone.

The Schaum's outline series books in math got me through an MA program in Math at University of Wisconsin. Now I wonder why the other texts even bother.

I hide this in my desk at work but sometimes use it for a quick reference either just before or just after engineering meetings and it sometimes gets me back up to speed on areas that I had forgotten.

I'm coming from a bit of a different direction than most other reviews. I have plenty of mathematics experience and would have preferred the calculus based guide. However, that got such bad reviews that I opted for this one. My intent was to get up to speed on the basics of physics, which for some reason I was completely ignorant of. You don't need calculus for that. I'm starting to play around with electronics for the purposes of embedded development with PIC chips. With that said, this book did the trick. Not just as a supplement for a class but as a primer. It is short on conceptual explanations but much can be found in the worked problems. You may have to supplement with some instructional youtube videos if you're not taking a class and don't have a more hefty textbook to refer to for a more intuitive grasp of the concepts. Another plus is this book is 12$ from Amazon.

Out of the three Physics Problems books I've recently purchased. This one was the one I always came back to. It gives basic formulas right at the beginning of each chapter. Sometimes thats all I needed. The other two books I purchased I had to decipher the information. Not so with this one, very well done.