Physics (Hardcover)

by John D. Cutnell (Author), Kenneth W. Johnson (Author)
Key Phrases: interactive solution, concept simulation, including calculational counterparts, Concept Questions, Conceptual Example, Related Homework (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Students Study Guide, Student Solutions Manual, Instructor's Solutions Manual, Instructor's Solutions Disk, Instructor's Resource Guide, Test Bank, Computerized Test Bank, Homework Disk, Four-color Transparency Acetates, CD-ROM, Learning Ware Software, Student's Pocket Companion available. -- The publisher, John Wiley & Sons --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
Improving the Game

When it comes to teaching and learning physics, most pedagogical innovations were pioneered in Cutnell and Johnson's Physics--the number one algebra-based physics text for over a decade. With each new edition of Physics, Cutnell and Johnson have strived to improve the heart of the game--problem solving. Now in their new Seventh Edition, you can expect the same spirit of innovation that has made this text so successful.

Here's how the Seventh Edition continues to improve the game!

AMP Examples (Analyzing Multi-Concept Problems)

These unique new example problems show students how to combine different physics concepts algebraically to solve more difficult problems. AMP examples visually map-out why the different algebraic steps are needed and how to do the steps.

GO (Guided Online) Problems in WileyPLUS

These new multipart, online tutorial-style problems lead students through the key steps of solving the problems. Student responses to each problem step are recorded in the grade book, so the instructor can evaluate whether the student really has mastered the material.

WileyPLUS

WileyPLUS provides the technology needed to create an environment where students can reach their full potential and experience the exhilaration of academic success.

WileyPLUS gives students access to a complete online version of the text, study resources and problem-solving tutorials, and immediate feedback and context-sensitive help on assignments and quizzes.

WileyPLUS gives instructors homework management tools, lecture presentation resources, an online grade book, and more.

Visit www.wiley.com/college/wileyplus or contact your Wiley representative for more information on how to package WileyPLUS with this text.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 1088 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 7 edition (March 17, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471663158
• ISBN-13: 978-0471663157
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,489 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best algebra-based physics text available., May 7, 2001

By	vladimir estragon "monkey" (Falls Church, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Physics, Volume 1, 5th Edition (Paperback)

While struggling with Giancoli's terrible book, I looked for a better textbook online, and found three other candidates. After buying them all and reviewing them, I returned all of them except for this one.

This is a great physics textbook for those preparing for the MCAT on their own, or for those in an algebra-based physics class. Compared to Giancoli's text, it is fantastic. Why?

1. Plenty of example problems while reading, fully explained in an intelligent and careful manner. Not two or three per chapter, but sometimes ten or more. Again, with exhaustive descriptions.

2. Clear, concise text that truly educates you as you read. Not a rehashed summary of familiar concepts, with important "givens" left out. Some text book authors are simply capable of writing text that teaches (Ege is a great example, for Organic Chemistry). Some should not be writing at all. To be good at physics problems, you first have to understand the concepts. Really understand them. This book explains them the way they need to be explained.

3. Excellent diagrams and tables. At first, I thought the ubiquitous graphics were just eye-candy, as they are (as always, refer to the worst example) in Giancoli's book. But every diagram is useful, and clearly explains a concept.

4. Student Solutions Manual. The most frustrating thing about physics seems to be the unavailability of solutions manuals to go with textbooks. Why this is so, for a field of study that relies so heavily on detailed explanations of problems, makes no sense to me. For all of the other sciences I've studied for preparation for medical school (including calculus), I've easily been able to get my hands on manuals detailing all problems and their solutions. In the realm of physics, though, there seems to exist an elitist attitude that only instructors should have these 'magic books', from which they will dole out a solution or two to desperate students. How colossaly stupid. This textbook is somewhat subject to this failing, in that the Student Solutions Manual contains answers to "selected" problems (roughly 21% per chapter). However, the fact that it has a solutions manual at all lifts it above the other offerings, especially -- you guessed it -- Giancoli's horrible book, which offers no manual to speak of (the "Study Guide" is a useless piece of garbage with no solved problems; don't buy it). In addition, though the solutions manual lacks all the answers, the ones it does have are well-explained and well-drawn, similar to what's in the text. Hopefully one day a physics textbook author will decide to stop treating students like monkeys and publish a great book that educates via giving as much information as possible, not rationing it. This is surely an antiquated practice whose time should end now.

For a fuller understanding of some of the concepts, I also recommend buying a calculus-based text to supplement this one. "Fundamentals of Physics" (same publisher -- Wiley) is a good (and popular) book. I like the 5th edition more than the 6th (it seems less cluttered), although the Student Solutions Manual for the 5th is out of print. If your calculus is rusty, there's hardly any in the first half of the book, and what is there is not complicated -- standard derivatives and integrals. It's a good book to have for gaining a very solid understanding of the concepts, although of a level above what's needed for the MCATs.

Finally, the best review book for MCAT physics is called just that: NOVAs "MCAT Physics". Schaum's outline for pre-Med physics is so lousy, it's amazing. What's even more amazing is how uneven the quality of education materials is. You really have to look around, unfortunately.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Total garbage, July 22, 2008

By	James Bishop "joe blow" (Alabama) - See all my reviews

This has got to be one of the most useless textbooks I've ever encountered in any subject. Moreso than any other math or science text I've seen, the authors commit the cardinal sin of solving only the simplest possible problems in in their "explanations", leaving you to fit together the pieces on the other (often rather difficult) problems at the end of the chapters. And if you thought the solutions manual would save you, SURPRISE! It won't - it only solves every 6th problem or so and generally delivers strange and convoluted solutions to simple problems. As far as the text goes, its explanations are so watered down you'd think you were looking through a text intended for junior high school (or younger) students. It constantly touts some bogus web service called "WileyPlus", which seems to exist purely to make the lives of teachers easier at their students' cost (and which you have to pay EVEN MORE to access, even if you bought the book new!). To sum it up, this text is absolute trash and an insult to the subject matter it teaches. If some professor lists this text on his or her syllabus, pitch a fit.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars solid textbook, January 17, 2005

By	kz (new york, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Physics (Hardcover)

this comment only refers to volume one of the text, as i bought the two separately and just finished physics I. i hated physics in high school and almost failed it too. i got an A this time around, by studying the book. my professor in college wasnt of much help, so the class had to learn from the text.

for the most part, the concepts are very well explained, with sample problems throughout the text. there is also a very helpful website which has concept understanding questions, chapter tests and interactive solutions. there are more than enough review questions at the end of the chapter, with answers to odd problems at the back of the book.

the book is especially good for explaining kinematics in 1 and 2D, if that's a problem for some. conservation of energy, potential, gravitational potential and kinetic, is pretty good too.

if you spend your time with this textbook, use what resources are available to you, you should do fine.

a few complaints though:
- there arent any answers or explanations to even numbered problems, not even in the solutions manual. without a teacher/tutor working them out with you, they're pretty much useless.
- the book is a bit weak in momentum and torque, as sample problems exhibited most basic functions of equations, and concepts were just okay compared to the rest of the text.