A brief introduction for AP Physics C Students
And anyone else who wants an overview of what we do when we “do calculus”
AP Physics C is a calculus-based course. At my school, calculus is a co-requisite. It would be good if we could use the language of calculus right from the start. But most of the students have only seen a little calculus so far (or none at all). So over the last few years, I have written these blog posts to try to get them off to a running start.
Also, while it was not my intention, I think these posts would help anyone heading into their first calculus class to get an advance overview of what lies ahead.
Note to my students: For some of you, most of this will be a review – but definitely not all of it! But for others, this will all be new. Just take your time, read slowly, and feel free to ask lots of questions — you can save them for September or email me as you think of them! Or post them in our Google Classroom (which is already open).
One other note: we will be talking a lot about rotational physics this year. It would be helpful to have a clear understanding of radian measure. If you feel at all shaky, you should review these two posts: Angle Measurement for Pizza Crust Lovers and That Radian Feeling.
I hope you have a relaxing summer and that you are looking forward to another year of interesting physics.
— Mr. K
| POST | TOPIC | |
| 1 | Hairy Questions | Slope and Rate of Change |
| 2 | Even Hairier | Acceleration |
| 3 | Velocity NOW! | Instantaneous Rate of Change |
| 4 | Slope-Finding Functions | What a derivative tells us |
| 5 | Derivatives: The Building Blocks | Some often-used derivatives |
| 6 | Derivatives: Combining Functions | Sums, differences, and more |
| 7 | Simple Version of the Chain Rule | Composition of Functions |
| 8 | Making the Best of Things | Optimization |
| 9 | Exponential Decay – Part 1 | 1st Order Diff. Eqs. |
| 10 | Exponential Decay – Part 2 | Understanding time constants * |
| 11 | A Magical Theorem, Part I | Anti-derivatives vs. Areas |
| 12 | A Magical Theorem, Part II | Areas via Anti-derivatives |
| 13 | Part III: Areas the Hard Way | Riemann Rectangles |
| 14 | Part IV: Areas in Physics | “Area” under a graph |
| 15 | Part V: Adding Up the Pieces | Applying the Magic Theorem |
*This post is optional. It’s a really interesting way to think about decay and time constants, but I have to admit it is a bit of a nerdy digression.
