LADY MARGARET HALL

Oxford OX2 6QA

15 August 2012

Dear Physics Student,

Preliminary reading for the Physics course

I am enclosing some notes on Physics at LMH, to give you some information about what to expect
when you arrive here.

I am also enclosing some suggestions for preliminary reading, and a set of problems in Maths and
Mechanics, for you to tackle before you arrive in Oxford. This gives you a chance to consolidate
some of your A Level course (or other school work) and start getting acquainted with the material
you will be covering next year. The idea is to try to make the transition from school work to
university work as smooth as possible!

Another purpose of these problems is to give us an idea of what things you have covered at school,
so first try the questions on material that is familiar to you, omitting the others. Please bring your
solutions when you come up in October, and we shall go through them in tutorials.

If you do have time to read up any unfamiliar material now, and answer the questions on it, then feel
free to do so. But dont spend too long struggling with these questions, or become discouraged, if
you get badly stuck. Most of this material will be covered during the first-year course.

I look forward to seeing you in October. Meanwhile, please dont hesitate to contact me if you have
any queries.

Yours sincerely,

David Andrews

(Senior Physics Tutor, Lady Margaret Hall)

andrews@atm.ox.ac.uk
 Physics at Lady Margaret Hall

These notes are intended to give you some information on the course of study you will be starting in
October. They should be read in conjunction with the Physics Departments Notes for Incoming
Freshers, which you will receive separately.

There are currently three Physics Tutors at LMH, Dr Todd Huffman, Dr Gianluca Gregori and
Professor David Andrews, all of whom are Fellows or Lecturers of the College and members of the
Universitys Physics Department. They will give many of your tutorials during the first two years
(though Dr Huffman will be away on research leave for 2012-13), with some being given by other
tutors such as Professor Niranjan Thatte. You will normally have two one-hour tutorials per week
(together with one other student). Some topics may be taught in larger classes.

For each tutorial you will usually be set a selection of problems, mostly based on material that has
recently been covered in lectures. Your solutions should be handed in before tutorials, so that the
tutor can look through them in advance. During the tutorial the tutor will go through your work
with you, correcting any errors and discussing any difficulties that you may have encountered. The
tutor will also answer questions relating to the material covered in lectures, mention wider
implications and connections with other parts of physics, and provide other relevant background.
Your tutors monitor your progress week by week; at the end of each term, they write reports on your
work. If the reports highlight any particular weaknesses, your tutors will discuss with you what
measures you need to take.

Tutorials give you the opportunity to discuss physics in detail on a regular one-to-one basis with
your tutors. On the other hand, lectures (given in the Physics Department to the 180 first-year
physicists from all the colleges) are the primary means of presenting the bulk of the material on the
syllabus. It is very important that you should attend all relevant lecture courses. You will need to
learn to take good lecture notes, and supplement them with your own private study, using textbooks
recommended by lecturers and tutors. Your tutors will be happy to advise on this.

At the beginning of Hilary and Trinity Terms (in January and April), there are college examinations
(called Collections) on work covered during the previous terms: these give you some exam
practice, and are a further way of monitoring your progress.

During the first year, approximately half of the tutorial work is devoted to physics and half to
mathematics. The reason for the large proportion of mathematics is that it is an essential tool for
most of the physics material covered in the course: virtually all of the mathematics that is done is
used in some aspect of the physics course. (However, the proportion of mathematics is much lower
in the later years.)

In addition to lectures and tutorial work, you will spend about one day per week doing practical
work in the Physics Department. You keep a record of your practical work in daybooks, which are
checked by the Lab Demonstrators. Some of your practicals have to be written up in detail and
marked. A termly progress report on your lab work is passed to your college tutors. You must
complete a total of 15 days credit during the first year.

At the end of the first year, in June, you take the Preliminary Examination (Prelims). This consists
of four compulsory papers, plus one short option paper.
Since the Oxford term is only eight weeks in length, life is pretty hectic, and you will have to work
conscientiously to keep up to schedule! Revision and consolidation during each vacation - going
through the previous terms lecture notes and tutorial work, and making sure that you fully
understand them (with help from textbooks, where necessary) - are an essential supplement to the
term-time coursework.

The Lady Margaret Hall library is well stocked with Physics books, which you can borrow for
extensive periods. It includes multiple copies of the most popular and important texts, so it is not
necessary for you to purchase lots of expensive books for your own use if you do not wish to do so.
If you find that a book you need is not in the library catalogue (or there are not enough copies)
please ask your tutors, who will be happy to arrange for one to be ordered, if it is in print.

Vacation Work: Maths and Mechanics

The Oxford Physics course contains a lot of maths, and it is important to ensure that you are as far
as possible up to speed before arriving in Oxford. This is particularly important if you have not
studied Further Maths or equivalent. This document gives some advice on preparation before
arrival, and a set of problems which you should attempt over the summer.

Maths Textbooks
A recommended maths text for the course is Mathematical Methods for Physics and Engineering by
K. F. Riley, M. P. Hobson and S. J. Bence (3rd edition, Cambridge University Press). This is a very
large book, but will cover all the maths you need for the compulsory parts of the physics course.
However, there are many others that cover much the same ground, including Mathematical Methods
in the Physical Sciences, by M L Boas (2nd Edition, Wiley). The LMH library has multiple copies
of both of these, so you can borrow them when you require them. When youve settled in to the
course, you may decide its worth buying your own copy of one of them.
You may initially find these texts very tough. A useful transition text is Further Mathematics for the
Physical Sciences by Tinker and Lambourne, which is divided into a number of modules with self
assessment tests so that you can work out which chapters you need to read.

Introductory Problems
We will assume that you are familiar with the topics in Chapter 1 of Riley, Hobson and Bence on
arrival. This chapter covers the solution of polynomials, trigonometric identities, coordinate
geometry, partial fractions, the binomial expansion, and methods of proof. The problems listed
below are adapted from the end of this chapter. You may find these problems quite tricky at first,
but with thought they should be possible.

Calculus
Although the Oxford Physics course in principle covers calculus from scratch, in practice
elementary techniques are covered very quickly, and you should ensure that you are familiar with
these before arrival. This includes differentiation and integration of polynomials, trigonometric
functions, and exponential and logarithmic functions; differentiation of products and quotients and
use of the chain rule; implicit differentiation; integration by parts and by substitution.
Mechanics
The first physics subject you will study at Oxford is mechanics. Unlike school courses the Oxford
course quickly begins to make use of a significant amount of maths, and many students find it hard
to combine maths with physics. This involves taking a problem posed in ordinary language, setting
it up in precise mathematical terms, using mathematical techniques to find a solution, and then
translating this back into ordinary terms. This process may not be very familiar to you now but is
going to be very important throughout your course.
The mechanics problems provided can mostly be solved using techniques familiar from A-level, but
it is important to begin by adopting a proper approach straight away: the way in which you solve
these problems and set out your answers is more important than the answers themselves! In
particular you should avoid at all costs simply plugging numbers into standard formulae using a
calculator: you should solve each problem in the general case before dealing with the numbers
given.

Special Relativity
Later in the first term you will study Special Relativity. For preliminary reading we strongly
recommend the recently-published book The Wonderful World of Relativity by our Oxford colleague
Andrew Steane (Oxford University Press). This is specifically aimed at people like you, with a good
A-level background in Physics and Maths.

Other reading
If you have time before you arrive in Oxford, you might also look at some of the following:

Maths:
It would be useful to read something about the following, more advanced, topics. Use whatever
books you have access to, or look at these sections of Riley et al. (R) or Boas (B):

Complex numbers: (R 3.1-3.5, B 2.1-2.5); Determinants: (R 8.9, B 3.3); Taylor's theorem: (R

4.6, B 1.12); Partial differentiation: (R 5.1, B 4.1); Differential equations: (R 14.1-14.2.4, B
8.1-8.5); Vectors: (R 7.1-7.7 B 3.4-3.5).

Physics:
The initial work in Physics will concentrate on mechanics and special relativity. Later in the First
Year you will go on to vibrations, waves, optics, and electromagnetism, with optional courses on
topics like introductory quantum mechanics, atomic physics and astrophysics.

W.J. Duffin's Electricity and magnetism (Fourth edition, McGraw-Hill), chapters 1-3 and 6-7,
would be good preliminary reading on electromagnetism.

The book by I.G. Main Vibrations and waves in physics (Cambridge), chapters 1-3, is also worth
looking at, if you can find it. There are several other good texts with similar titles.

You may enjoy dipping into R.P. Feynman's Lectures on Physics (Addison-Wesley), vol. I. And
Feynmans popular writings, several paperbacks by P.C.W. Davies, and books like
J. Gribbins In search of Schrdinger's cat all give interesting background on modern physics and
physicists.
A. Introductory Problems
1. Consider the 3rd order polynomial

g(x) = 4x3 + 3x2 6x 1

(a) Show that g(x) must have at least one real root.
(b) Make a table of g(x) for integer values of x between 2 and 2,
and hence find one root by inspection.
(c) Factorise the equation as a product of the first root and a
quadratic, and hence find values of all three roots.

2. A polynomial equation can be written in terms of coefficients

f (x) = an xn + an1 xn1 + + a1 x + a0 = 0

or in terms of roots

f (x) = an (x 1 )(x 2 ) (x n ) = 0.

(a) By expanding these expressions show that

n
X n
Y
an1 a0
k = and k = (1)n
k=1 an k=1 an

where indicates a product of terms just as indicates a sum.

(b) Show that these formulae give the right results for g(x) in the
previous question.

3. Use double angle formulae to find an expression for cos(4) in terms

of sin(); hence prove that s = sin(/8) is one of the four roots of

8s4 8s2 + 1 = 0

and use your knowledge of the sin function to show that

s
2 2
sin(/8) = .
4

Find an expression for cos(/8) and show that tan(/8) = 2 1.
(Hint: first find the obvious form for tan(/8) and then simplify
this using surds.)

3
4. Show that
a sin + b cos = K sin( + )
with
K 2 = a2 + b2 and = arctan(b/a).
(Hint: it is much easier to show this the other way round by
expanding K sin( + ) using an angle sum formula.)

5. Show that the equation

f (x, y) = x2 + y 2 + 6x + 8y = 0

represents a circle, and find its centre and radius.

6. Express the following as partial fractions:

2x + 1 4 x2 + x 1
(a) 2
(b) 2
(c)
x + 3x 10 x 3x x2 + x 2
(In the last case you will have to start by identifying multiples of the
denominator in the numerator and subtracting these from the
fraction.)

binomial expansion to evaluate (a) (1 + x)5 , (b) 1/(1 + x), and

7. Use a
(c)1/ 1 + x up to second order. Use the last result to find a value of
1/ 4.2 to three decimal places.

8. Prove by induction that

Pn
(a) r=1 r = 12 n(n + 1)
Pn
(b) r=1 r3 = 14 n2 (n + 1)2

9. The sum of a geometric progression can be written as

Sn = 1 + r + r 2 + + r n

Evaluate rSn and use this to show that Sn = (1 rn+1 )/(1 r).

4
B. Calculus
Differentiation
1. Differentiate each of the following functions:

(a) f (x) = x2 sin(x) + loge (x)

(b) f (x) = 1/ sin(x)
(c) f (x) = 2x

2. Find the first two derivatives of the following functions:

(a) F (x) = 3 sin x + 4 cos x

(b) y = loge x x > 0

3. Let x = a( sin ) and y = a(1 cos ), where a is a constant; find

dy
dx
in terms of . Then find d2 y/dx2 in terms of .
dy
(Hint: let f () stand for your expression for dx in terms of ; then
d2 y d dy d df d
dx2
= dx ( dx ) = dx f () = d dx .)

Stationary points and graph sketching

4. Under certain circumstances, when sound travels from one medium to
another, the fraction of the incident energy that is transmitted across
the interface is given by

E(r) = 4r/(1 + r)2

where r is the ratio of the acoustic resistances of the two media. Find
any stationary points of E(r), and classify them as local maxima,
minima, or points of inflection. For what value of r is d2 E/dr2 = 0?
Sketch the graph of E(r) for r > 0, marking the special values of r
you have found.

Hyperbolic functions
5. The hyperbolic functions are defined in terms of the exponential
function ex by
ex ex ex + ex sinh(x)
sinh(x) = cosh(x) = tanh(x) =
2 2 cosh(x)
Sketch each of these functions against x. Do not use a calculator!

5
 6. Find the first derivatives of sinh(x) and tanh(x) with respect to x,
expressing your answers in terms of cosh(x).

Integration
7. Evaluate the following indefinite integrals:
R
(a) (1 + 2x + 3x2 ) dx
R
(b) [sin(2x) cos(3x)] dx
R 1
(c) (et + t2
) dt
R
(d) dw

8. Evaluate the following definite integrals:

R 1/4
(a) 1/4 cos(2x) dx
R3
(b) 0 (2t 1)2 dt
R 2 (1+et )2
(c) 1 et
dt
R9
(d) 4 x(x x1 ) dx
R1
(e) 1 x3 dx; explain your answer with a sketch.
R
9. Find the indefinite integral x2 ex dx.
R
10. Find the indefinite integral sin x(1 + cos x)4 dx.

11. Find the area of the region bounded by the graph of the function
y = x2 + 2 and the line y = 5 2x.

6
C. Mechanics
Motion in one dimension
1. A car accelerates uniformly from rest to 80 km per hour in 10 s. How
far has the car travelled?

2. A stone falls from rest with an acceleration of 9.8 ms2 . How fast is it
moving after it has fallen through 2 m?

3. A car is travelling at an initial velocity of 6 ms1 . It then accelerates

at 3 ms2 over a distance of 20 m. What is its final velocity?

Work and energy

4. The brakes on a car of mass 1000 kg travelling at a speed of 15 ms1
are suddenly applied so that the car skids to a stop in a distance of
30 m. Use energy considerations to determine the magnitude of the
total frictional force acting on the tyres, assuming it to be constant
throughout the braking process. What is the cars speed after the
first 15 m of this skid?

5. The gravitational potential energy for a mass m at a distance R + h

from the centre of the earth (where R is the radius of the earth) is
GM m/(R + h) where G is Newtons gravitational constant and M
is the mass of the earth. If h R show that this is approximately
equal to a constant (independent of h) plus mgh, where g = GM/R2 .
[Hint: write R + h = R(1 + h/R) and expand (1 + h/R)1 by the
binomial theorem.]

6. Show that the minimum speed with which a body can be projected
from the surface of the earth to enable it to just escape from the
earths gravity
q (and reach infinity with zero speed) is given by
vescape = 2GM/R, where G, M and R are defined as in the
previous question. If a body is projected vertically with speed
1
v
2 escape
, how high will it get? (Give the answer in terms of R and
neglect air resistance throughout this question.)

7
Simple harmonic motion
7. The position of a particle as a function of time is given by
x(t) = A sin(t + ), where A, and are constants. Obtain similar
formulae for (a) the velocity, (b) the acceleration of the particle. If
= /6, find in terms of A the value of x at t = /6. What is the
value of x (in terms of A) when the acceleration is greatest in
magnitude?

8. A particle of mass m moves in one dimension under the action of a

force given by kx where x is the displacement of the body at time t,
and k is a positive constant. Using F = ma write down a differential
equation for x, and verify that its solution is x = A cos(t + ), where
2 = k/m. If the body starts from rest at the point x = A at time
t = 0, find an expression for x at later times.