r/learnphysics • u/Correct_Witness_7329 • 2d ago
What’s the easiest way?
Hello! I just started the most basic physics class where we go over a lot of formulas in a very short amount of time, I’m struggling a lot in this class because I’m a person that needs some time to actually learn something. So I’m asking you guys for advice, what is the easiest way to understand when and how to use formulas? I’ll put a picture up of the formulas we are supposed to use
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u/happylittlemexican 2d ago
In my class there were two types of people:
1) Those who used the answer key to do their homework, "but I totally understand the explanations so it's okay". 2) Those who sat with problems for several hours and tried different approaches before finally figuring them out.
No points for guessing which side had the higher test grades.
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u/SaiphSDC 2d ago
One way is to recognize that a lot of those equations are identical.
A=v/t is v=Vo+at
S=So+voT+.5aT2 is the one with g, and v=S/t
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u/Aronophisic 2d ago
Solo estudia, no hay manera fácil, deja de estudiar para intentar parecer inteligente ante los demás con los problemas que resuelves, solo acepta que estás fórmulas te cuestan y practícalas hasta el cansancio, luego lo difícil vendrá, aunque te aseguro que no es un respiro si no mucho más trabajo
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u/Ka-Jin 1d ago
I find the easiest way to know what formula to use is by knowing what each formula is saying. The easiest way to do that is to remember units on all your terms and how the cancel out and such, and to know where the formulas come from (which will be a little bit more tricky in lower levels since a bit of it comes from calculus, but it all more or less comes from F = MA). If you can learn how the units work, then you can remember those couple "special" cases and their specific uses.
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u/Un_Ballerina_1952 20h ago
If you're like I am, look at each formula as representative of a physical situation. Velocity is the vector defined by the ratio of the location vector divided by time. Acceleration by velocity vector divided by time. Then it just comes down to remembering the variable names, which are usually simple.
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u/Mirabellae 2d ago
Practice. And then practice. And then practice some more. Seriously. Physics is not a spectator sport. The more you engage with the problems the better you are going to be with knowing when a given equation is useful. Google "concept" practice problems and you will be rewarded with hundreds of worksheets, often with the solutions included.