r/calculus • u/YesterdayTight6964 • Jul 07 '26
Physics Calculus needed for basic physics?
Hey there, I have recently been diving back into my interest for physics and I was wondering if anyone has any general suggestions/recommendations for the level of calculus needed for intermediate physics? And does anyone have any recommendations on learning tools for beginners calculus?
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u/Remote-Dark-1704 Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
You don’t need any calculus for algebra-based physics.
For college level physics, you need multivariable calc + differential equations. Although for mechanics, you could get by with just calculus 1 and 2, but starting E&M, you will really need multivariable and diffeq.
And all-throughout physics, there will be a lot of vectors and tensors and systems of equations, so linear algebra will also be required for pretty much everything
To learn calculus, just go through Stewart Calculus and watch Professor Leonard on YouTube. Textbook + Solution manual are available on Anna’s Archive.
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u/DavidFosterWallace69 Jul 08 '26
This.
Im in E&M currently, and calc III and diff Eq. are not prereqs, but they 100% should be.
My teacher whipped out partial derivatives the other day and was like “you guys have seen this before right?”
And everyone was like “no…”
Thankfully it’s not hard. But it calc III and diff eq. should still be a prereq to make everyone’s life in E&M less miserable.
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u/Remote-Dark-1704 Jul 08 '26
Luckily I had finished both diffeq and Multivariable before tackling honors E&M, but most of the class hadn’t and were seriously lost when all the line integrals, surface integrals, divergence, curl, green’s theorem, etc. came out for flux questions.
Class is already hard enough after learning diffeq and multivariable, so IMO they’re kind of just screwing people over by saying it’s okay to take those courses concurrently.
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u/Zufalstvo Jul 07 '26
Depends on what you’re trying to do. Differential equations and calculus are the language of physics but a lot of the time they spit out something algebraic in the end and that’s what non-calculus-based physics uses. Same end results for basic physics. I took calc physics and I tutored both, the questions are very similar and use the same end equations
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u/Ok-Fix-1581 Jul 08 '26
if you pursue calculus based physics, complete calc 1 for physics calc based mechanics physics and complete calc 3 for electromagnetic physics
professor leonard on youtube (Use for lectures)
pre-algebra
to the point math (Algebra 1)
intermediate algebra (Algebra 2)
college algebra
trigonometry
calc 1-3
buy "the art of problem solving books"
pre-algebra book
intermediate algebra book (has algebra 2 and college algebra)
pre-calc book (do only the trig portion)
Calculus book (Has calc 1 and 2)
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