Prerequisites

This course assumes that you have completed more than two semesters of college calculus and at least two semesters of university physics.

More specifically, it assumes on the mathematics side that you are thoroughly familiar with both differential and integral calculus in one variable (that is, that you know the concepts and can correctly evaluate derivatives and integrals, as long as only elementary functions are involved), and are somewhat acquainted with both partial differential equations and vector calculus. Needless to say, you should also understand all the mathematical prerequisites to these topics, namely, Euclidean geometry, algebra, trigonometry, and analytical geometry (or pre-calculus). If you are weak in any of these areas, obtain a good reference book and be ready to review the appropriate background material as you need it for the course. Because of the tree-like structure of this course, you will not need all of these mathematical tools as long as you remain in the lower branches. But as you advance to higher and higher levels of knowledge you will need more and more of these tools.

This course in Electromagnetic Field Theory also assumes that you are moderately acquainted, perhaps familiar, with the basics of classical physics - the physics of the macroscopic world of everyday life. More specifically, that you have studied, in a "calculus-based" course, Newton's Laws, energy, momentum, rotation, and something of heat, in the usual first semester, and Coulomb's, Gauss's, Ampere's, and Faraday's Laws (or, collected, Maxwell's Equations) and the force formulas for electric and magnetic forces (combined, the Lorentz Force Formula), plus some optics and wave properties, in the usual second semester. ("Calculus-based" indicates that calculus terminology and notations were used, not that you necessarily used much of calculus formulas.) Again, you may not need all of this knowledge in the lower branches of the course, but the upper branches assume you know most of this material. So make sure you have a good physics textbook; refer to it as needed to refresh your memory of this background material.

In a few cases, where experience shows that most students taking the course are weak in a particular area, I intend to include background material in the course itself. This will make it easier for you to review material you should have already learned before coming into the course. In these cases, you will need only to click the appropriate button to go to a review page for a quick refresher on the topic.

E-M Home Page/Introduction/

Format for this page adapted with permission from pages
constructed by Dr. Lionel D. Hewett for his course
Modern Physics 1.