Recommendation Definition and 320 Threads

Hi, I'm an incoming 3rd yr. civil engineering student from the Philippines. During my previous years as a freshman and a sophomore student, i only rely on books present in our engineering library whether it is a good material or not.During those days I don't even bother the substance of the book...

Hello all, I have just finished up taking graduate E&M and will be enrolling in graduate classical mechanics next fall. It has been a while since I have done any kind of mechanics and would like to know which book do you recommend for refreshing/re-learning needed material for grad mechanics...

How important is it to have a well known professor write your letters? Is it better to have a lesser-known professor write a letter that says "this is the best student I've had (jr level class)" or is it better to have a slightly-better-known professor write a letter than says "this is a very...

Hello all, I'm new to the forum, and probably i post in the wrong place, but i will appreciate your help. I do my PhD in Chemical Physics on the topic of nano materials, we do all kind of optical experiments (PL, LT, Confocal microscopy and so on), and till now used a very old laser Ar ion...

Currently going through the Susskind lectures on QM & looking for any recommendations for an introductory text that would be at about the same level. Not trying to become a physicist, just want to learn the basics

I’m asked to do efficiency measurements on washing machines, collecting several parameters including water-intake. For this I need real-time data with 0.1 liter accuracy. Just now we use three SCAMPY water flow meters (two for cold and one for hot water), manufactured by the French company...

The school I will be applying for a MA in Math requires 2 letters of recommendation. I am currently taking an undergraduate course at that school and I was advised to certainly get a letter of recommendation from my professor there. I have two other options from where to get the other one...

I stumbled onto this forum looking for advice, and since it seems like the wonderful people here have provided excellent advice to others, I'm hoping they (you) could do the same for me? I'm in the gap between college freshman and sophomore. I spent my first year taking lit, art, and history...

Hello ,I would like to get a physics book that will cover as many topics as possible. I would prefer a book with a straight forward approach and some applications. I am currently in high school and I am finishing a college algebra and trigonometry book. I have only done a bit of Newtonian...

I already finished a undergraduate ODE course that uses Elementary Differential Equations and Boundary Value Problems by Boyce. And I'm now seeking for a book or lecture notes that teaches something beyond what is usually learned in a first course of ODE, but at the same time, the material...

Hi guys this is my first post. I hope it's in the right place. I am trying to model heat flow over a plate positioned very close to exhaust from a jet engine. Can anyone recommend software that can do this? I'd like to be able to visualize the airflow itself, its temperature and the...

Hey guys, can anyone recommend me a book on infinitesimal calculus. What i mean by infinitesimal calculus is the derivation of differential equations by looking at infinitesimal changes (dx\,dt, etc...). Examples of this would be the Black-Scholes PDE, Euler-Bernoulli DE, etc.. I'm an EE...

Hi everyone, I've completed 12th grade, with low marks unfortunately, and I wish to study everything again thoroughly, because I both want a career in science, and I find it very interesting as well. The reason I didn't do good was partly my fault, and I think also due to the horrible...

This is for REU and other summer research programs. 1) If the program requires letters to be mailed in, should you go out and prepare the envelopes and buy stamps for the professor? In high school they had us do this but I'm unsure of how it works in college. 2) What would be a nice way of...

I'm curious, I'm receiving a recommendation letter for grad school from a professor whose lab I worked in. I don't want to name names for various reasons, but he's one of the most highly respected condensed matter physicist in the world and works on projects that are important in fundamental...

I'm taking a mathematical methods for physicists class and we're using the Arfken and Weber book which does a horrible job in teaching the subjects, in my opinion. Can anyone recommend other book(s) I can use to learn these topics.. Vectors in Curvilinear Coords, Tensors, Matricies, Infinite...

I'm looking for a classical mechanics book that is heavily mathematical based, I've looked around a little however I'm lazy and don't want to buy a dud book. any recommendations would be great, thanks. (also i know there's 100000000000threads on text recom's however can't seem to find much ppl...

How much will one bad letter of recommendation for grad school hurt me if my other two are really good? I did an REU over the summer and really didn't get along well with my advisor and I'm a little bit worried about what he might write in my letter of recommendation. He did offer to write me...

I'm finishing my PhD; I will be defending in a few weeks and then starting a postdoc at a high-profile university/lab. One of my research students has asked me to write a letter of recommendation for him which is due by the end of this week. His other letter writers are also at my current...

I was just wondering if one should ask a professor for a letter of recommendation right after the course finishes or when you're ready to apply to grad schools... The only LOR that I've gotten was after a course that I took just before I transferred to a different school, so this example is not...

Hello, I'm learning vector calculus in my physics class. We're using Mathematical methods for Physicists by Arfken, but I think it makes a better reference source than something to learn the concepts from. I've downloaded the Feynman lectures which seem to be pretty good so far, but I was...

I need to quiz small study group. Looking for book/other-resources for difficult multiple choice questions on physics (motion, rotation, light, electro-magnetics etc.)

When applying for graduate schools in physics, would a recommendation from the president of a the university be better than say a physics professor I had for class? One of the schools I'm looking at requires 3 letters of recommendation, & I believe I have two solid recommendations from physics...

Hi there, I was looking for something to level-up my knowledge from basic differentiation/integration (I'm a Computer Scientist by degree) to things like multivariable, vector calc and other more advanced concepts. The problem is that working through definition-theorem-proof i.e. rigorous...

Hi everyone, I'm a junior in college and recently I made a list of some things I'm looking for in a future job. Could someone give some recommendations of jobs to look into? I'm looking for a job that uses math daily. Skills I want to use in my job: 1. Problem-solving. Looking at problems...

So I haven't really been having a very good REU experience. My advisor has not made himself very accessible and I probably only spend like 20 minutes a week talking to him. Most the time I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to be doing so I haven't really been working very hard on my project...

I am in my second year as a physics undergrad and I am starting to do some research on REU programs for next summer. I am currently doing research (for zero credits) with my calc professor who I believe will write me a strong LOR, I also received an high A in her calc class. My problem is, she...

I'm currently in an REU program after finishing my freshman year of college majoring in Physics. My mentor is a graduate student, and I see him every day and we are working on an engineering project together. I see the lab's PI a couple times a week, and he is following my project, and...

OK, this might be a little weird question: I am interviewing in two days. I am finally getting some letters of recommendation from some of my former co-workers. The first was very nice. The format is pleasing to the eye, and it was well written. The one I 'just' got, was from someone with...

Hello everyone, I am looking to teach myself linear algebra this summer, but I can't find a good book. Any recommendations? -miss fangula

Can anyone recommend an expository book or article containing some of the derivations of the asymptotic expansions of special functions? Many of the "lookup" type books such as Abramovitz and Stegun contain the results but not the derivation of the results.

Hi Could anyone recommend me a good book that will teach me the kind of group/representation theory I would need to understand these things when applied to QFT (Lie Algebra, Lorentz group, SU(2) etc)? Thanks

Hi all, I am looking for calculus books that are fun to read. In particular, I am looking for books that show, say, the proof of \int dx/x = log[x] not just simply state the results. Something similar to Thompson's Calculus made easy. Thanks in advance, Michuco

I wasn't planning on doing masters when i started university so i never worked on building up relations with my profs. I graduated six months ago and now that I've seen the industry a little and where it might take me in the following years i really want to do a masters. I keep reading any...

Hi all, I am trying to build a simple electric circuit that includes some microcintrollers and ultrasonic receivers and transmitters. The thing is that I have no idea about how to build electric circuits. I do have a BSC in Physics and Computer Science, so I believe I could study it by myself...

Hey so I am doing a grad course on logic and skipping the undergrad introductory course. My friends have said that I will be fine but I want to get a head start and read some of what I missed in the undergrad class. here is the description for it. Elementary development of propositional and...

Hello all, Purely out of interest, I considered taking a general physics course at my local university. However, I don't really want to spend the money on a course. So, I'm looking for a recommendation for a good college general physics textbook to study on my own (I presume that I will...

So here's the deal. For undergraduate studies, Canadian universities do not require a letter of recommendation to be sent, some have told me via e-mail explicitly they do not require them, and some even state on their websites not to send anything beside transcripts. Do you think it could be...

Could someone recommend a good book to review Calculus leading up to Advanced Calculus. I have Advanced Calculus next semester and want to get a jump on it. It has been a couple of years since I had Calc II. and I am reviewing the Stewart Book. I am looking for something a little more concise...

This is sort of a two part question, so bear with me. I just recently graduated with a BS in chemistry, and I applied to a couple PhD programs for next fall (I deliberately waited until after graduating to apply to graduate school for a number of reasons!). I'm working a part time job right...

I want to buy another Partial differential equation and Boundary value problems textbook. The ones I have are: 1) Partial Differential Equation, An Introduction by Walter A. Strauss. 2) Partial differential equation and Boundary value problems by Nakhle Asmar. 3) Differential Equation...

I'm looking for a physics dictionary. I need something that has advanced-level vocabulary (I'll mostly be using it to wade through professional physics papers), and, though I would prefer it to be as comprehensive as possible, my main fields of interest are classical and modern physics...

Title says it all. But to further elaborate... it's been about 12 years since I had general chemistry, I don't remember any of it, and would like to pick up a textbook to refresh my knowledge. I majored in math and physics, so I would prefer the book not to dodge the use of, say, calculus...

Can someone recommend me a book for self-studying quantum mechanics, just for personal interest. I'm studying math, but not physics. So I'm looking for something with a bit more of a mathematical focus. I'm very knowledgeable in linear algebra, and also know about Hilbert spaces and some...

OK, here's the situation. I'm applying to college this year, and my research professor is keen to write me a letter of recommendation and I had already prepared my CV. But now I'm feeling a little nervous because my CV is sort of, generalized, with lots of activities/distinctions that are not...

Hey, So two summers ago I did an REU. I would like to apply to a few REUs for summer 2010 but I am wondering how I should approach asking for a letter of recommendation from the professor I worked for. Should I email him beforehand and ask his permission for a letter of recommendation and wait...

I need some help for my grad Econometrics class. The book we are using (Woolridge, Introductory Econometrics), doesn't go quite as deep into the math as the lecture does. As a result, it is difficult for me to follow what's going on, even if I read ahead. If anyone could recommend a text that...

Hello friends,I am doing my MSc equivalent coursework in Physics in a reputed research Institute in India.However,I do not want to continue here (Ph.D).The thing is that they would not give me an MS if I wish to leave. I wish to appear for general G.R.E and subject G.R.E next year (2010)...

Hello~ Everyone~ I am a new member, Nice to meet you~ I like physics and mathematics. I don't care the mathematical theorem, (Such as the limit theorem, I think which is not very useful in application) but I want to know the mathematics for Physics. Any books is suitable for me?? May I have...

Could any of you recommend a functional analysis textbook? I have looked at "Methods of modern mathematical physics" by Reed&Simon, but they assume a pure-maths BSc background, thus this book is not ideal for me. About my background: I have an Applied Physics BSc and starting a Theoretical...