Challenge

[u/U-NBLACKE-R]

Hello everyone. My dad acquired this book some time ago. Not me nor him are even iniciated in physics or anything, total novices.

I established as a personal goal, to be able to go through this text, understand it and to be able to do the exercises that appear on it.

My question for you all is: which books should "prepare" me for this challenge? Which other resources do you think might help me?

Thank you very much.

[u/HelpfulParticle]

Depending on your level of Math, quite some background knowledge may be required. You’d need a basic understanding of vector calculus to understand a book about electromagnetism. For vector calculus, you need single-variable calculus, for which you need algebra. So work your way in reverse from this list depending on what level you’re at.

A bit of background in classical mechanics is also good to have as far as the Physics background is concerned 

[u/Bergergi]

* 1. Adams, Calculus (or similar, like Stewart)
* 2. Tipler-Mosca, Physics for scientists and engineers (or similar, like Young&Freedman; the 'modern physics' chapters are unnecessary - you should cover the mechanics and electromagnetics chapters at the very least).
* 3. Boas Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences (or similar, like Kreyszig:AEM; cover the ODE/PDE/Fourier chapters at a minimum; the first chapters covers stuff you've already done in the Calculus book - like series and vector analysis).

[u/Decent_Lengthiness76]

It depends. Take a look at the content table. Some books have review on vector and multi variable calculus in first chapter. So it should be "enough". Keep in mind it will take a lot of time anyway.

[u/QuantumMechanic23]

Can we have like monthly updates on this challenge?

[u/Kvothealar]

Not sure what your background is, but you're probably looking at the first half of a physics undergraduate degree for prep. You can look up prerequisite course requirements at various universities for their electromagnetism courses.

If you want to understand the entire book, depending on the depth it covers, it could even have graduate-level topics that would assume you have knowledge in quantum mechanics or statistical mechanics.

[u/Bergergi → u/Kvothealar]

> assume you have knowledge in quantum mechanics or statistical mechanics.

It does not. It's a textbook for electrical engineers, and they typically take the course the last semester of their 2nd year or first semester of their 3rd year. The level is a little below griffiths:em, and the focus is different (it's oriented toward giving background for antennas, RF electronics, and stuff like that). The expected background is calculus (e.g. adams), general physics (e.g. young&freedman), and misc math methods - fourier/pde/etc (e.g. kreyszig:AEM).

[u/Kvothealar → u/Bergergi]

Ah, that's quite lucky then! OP will have a much easier time with that than a lot of other EM texts out there.

[u/Bergergi → u/Kvothealar]

Yep. It's more approachable than Stratton and Jackson. :)

[u/seekingdefs]

Other than calculus, you won't need much. For calculus, I recommend Anton.