5 Best Open Source Physics and Math Books Online

5 Best Open Source Physics and Math Books Online The following list has been compiled with the intention that anyone with a high-school level education pursuing a better understanding of physics has free access a set of highly informative material. All of the titles selected are at an undergraduate level and are the most subject-encompassing I’ve found available. The majority of the books listed were written for, and generously entered into the creative commons by conscientious authors. The acquisition of knowledge should never be hindered by financial assets. The recent repeal of Net Neutrality has threatened the availability of open source material, and projects like MIT’s Open Courseware, that freely provide thousands with educational multimedia, could become inaccessible to some. The right to education has been deeply threatened in the last year, and it is in an effort to ensure equal opportunities for all students of the natural sciences that this blog is written. College Physics – OpenStax College OpenStax College is a non-profit organization sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation among others. The book is a fully comprehensive introductory text for a one year, algebra-based physics course. Download available at: http://cnx.org/content/col11406/latest _____________________________________________________________________________ Introduction to Calculus - John H. Heinbockel Before we move on to more advanced material you’ll need an excellent calculus text. Composed as a creative commons work in 2012. The author states explicitly in the first line of the preface that the text was intended “for future scientists and engineers”. However, Introduction to Calculus is an excellent starter text for anyone wanting to understand Newton/Leibnitz’s famous invention. Download available at: http://cnx.org/content/col11406/latest _____________________________________________________________________________ The Feynman Lectures on Physics – Caltech Online Richard Feynman’s famous lecture series given at Caltech in the 1960’s are available for free online. This is my personal favorite on the list, as obtaining the complete set in print can run upwards of $100. Unfortunately Caltech doesn’t offer an official PDF or EPUB version, however all three volumes of Feynman’s original lectures have been made freely accessible in HTML via Caltech’s website. Viewable at: http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/ _____________________________________________________________________________ Calculus Based Physics I & II - Jeffrey W. Schnick This is a very clearly written, yet well detailed physics text entered directly into the creative commons by its author. Parts I and II are available for download individually in both PDF and Microsoft Word formats. Download available at: http://www.cbphysics.org _____________________________________________________________________________ Mathematical Analysis I - Elias Zakon The most advanced text on the list, Mathematical Analysis I is a set of lectures given by Elias Zakon, a German-born mathematician at the University of Windsor in 1975. The Saylor Foundation has made this post-calculus creative commons available in PDF through their website listed below. Download available at: https://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Real-Analysis-I-Zakon-1-30-11-OTC.pdf _____________________________________________________________________________ Have suggestions about future content or need help solving a physics/math problem? Tweet @ThePhysicsBlog Popular Posts The Hyperspace Propulsion Theory of Burkhard Heim Hyperspace: Burkhard Heim's Unified Field Theory -- Methods for Physics Burkhard Heim's Unified Field Theory B urkhard Heim was a German theoretical physicist who devoted a large portion of his life to the pursuit of a unified field theory, an attempt to describe the four fundamental forces and elementary particles as a single field. An explosion in a World War II chemical laboratory left him without hands and mostly deaf and blind when he was just 19, forcing him to undergo a series of at least 50 operations after the accident. Heim died in 2001, having spent most of his life attempting to couple quantum theory with Einstein’s general relativity. Part of his motivation is said to have been the possible application of space propulsion through a repulsive anti-gravity. 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The Inception While the Belgian physicist and Catholic priest Georges Lemaître was the originator of the idea that the universe evolved from a single-point, the term ‘big bang’ was actually coined by astronomer Fred Hoyle on BBC in the 1940s with the intent of exemplifying the theory’s difference from the steady-state cosmology for which he was a proponent. Per Powered by Blogger