Advanced Physics Problem Solving Methods

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kendity ...@yahoo.com

Hello, I am a senior undergraduate student getting a bachelors degree in physics. I am trying to become a more efficient and accurate problem solver and I was wondering if anyone would like to share with me their methods of quickly solving and checking physics problems.
Thanks a lot!
-Kendi

Sam Wormley sworml...@mchsi.com

   Are you starting this fall semester, or have you already take    physics courses?
  -Sam

Sam Wormley sworml...@mchsi.com

   Please disregard my previous post!
   Are you after greater efficiency? Deeper understanding?
  -Sam

"operator jay" n...@none.none

Practice practice practice.

donstockba ...@hotmail.com

Become a general systems thinker.

donstockba ...@hotmail.com

Become a general systems thinker.
And study all of   http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/

noshellswill noshellsw...@hotmail.com

BigK: Current wisdom is to "be smart" ... so you can simultaneously dick-with bunches of variables. Hardly matters WHAT variables ( ... see String Theory for details ... hehe ). Engineers too, and physicians think this recursive way.
Interestingly  Feynman, Plato and some recent research imply that solving tough problems is very case-specific. That is ... pick a problem you can't solve. Fail! Then simplify that problem and retry. Fail ... simplify until you (locally) succeed. Then reconstruct toward the original problem building progressively less half-a** solutions ... until ... likely you have --- if successful --- redefined an originally meaningless problem statement.
So really, solving problems is the process of building tools to construct solvable problems. Or suchlike ...
nss *************    

"PD" TheDraperFam...@gmail.com

1. Be able to explain what is going on and the general behavior you expect from this system. This may mean being able to sketch what's going on, or plot how some results will depend (roughly) on some selected variables. All this without any algebra or crunching any numbers.
2. Do an order-of-magnitude calculation in your head before you do any algebra or crunch any numbers. Your final answer after all the calculations should agree with you order of magnitude estimate to within, well, an order of magnitude.
3. Have enough practice with various approaches to the mathematical strategy to be able to explain why you are taking the strategy you are taking, as opposed to the other possible methods. If you don't know why you are making a step, then you don't know what you are doing.
4. Be able to explain what idealizations you are making or what things you are ***uming to be negligible. Then be able to explain what you'd have to do to find the correction due to the thing you neglected.
The folks who are good, really good, do this instinctively.
PD