units 3 and 4

[scandin9]

Does units 3 and 4 of this subject require a high level in mathematics?

[Alwin]

Does units 3 and 4 of this subject require a high level in mathematics?

I'll assume that's not a joke (although it is a kinda funny haha)

The physics course is designed such that it can be completed with a year10 level of maths, specific areas that come to mind were trig, rearranging formulas and substitution. maybe simultaneous equations in motion, but thats about it

If you're deciding about physics, don't be put off by the "maths". It's not maths that 'challenges' you, its the physics concepts that are supposed to challenge you
PS: in recent years, exam qs more and more about concepts (eg explain referring to ......'s law) and less of maths (eg punch in these numbers and lets see if you get the right answer on your calculator)

[pi]

Does units 3 and 4 of this subject require a high level in mathematics?

See this thread for more unbiased and highly accurate information regarding this "subject" [Review] VCE Physics 3/4

[RKTR]

Does units 3 and 4 of this subject require a high level in mathematics?

u should check the thread " review of vce physics" by pi haha

[~T]

Oh wow, I needed cheering up. Thank you :')

[lzxnl]

I'll assume that's not a joke (although it is a kinda funny haha)

The physics course is designed such that it can be completed with a year10 level of maths, specific areas that come to mind were trig, rearranging formulas and substitution. maybe simultaneous equations in motion, but thats about it

If you're deciding about physics, don't be put off by the "maths". It's not maths that 'challenges' you, its the physics concepts that are supposed to challenge you
PS: in recent years, exam qs more and more about concepts (eg explain referring to ......'s law) and less of maths (eg punch in these numbers and lets see if you get the right answer on your calculator)

Year ten? Not even. You learnt trig in year nine and I'm sure you learn simultaneous equations in year nine. Other than that, all you need to know how to do is rearrange something like mv^2/r = GMm/r^2 into r=GM/v^2 and plugging into formulas.

If you want maths in physics, you'll have to wait for at least first-year, maybe second-year physics depending on how much maths you want.

[BubbleWrapMan]

If you want maths in physics, you'll have to wait for at least first-year, maybe second-year physics depending on how much maths you want.

Well, really, if you want maths you should just do maths.

[lzxnl]

The thing is, a lot of the maths used in physics appeals to me, but some topics in maths don't, like matrices, geometry, discrete maths and number theory. If I just did maths for the sake of maths, I wouldn't be engaged.

[09Ti08]

In short, I think that the Math in VCE Physics is not hard at all, but in order to understand deeply what's going on and be able to tackle conceptual questions in the exam, you should be good at math. (I personally used uni Physics textbook while completing VCE Physics). In the end, the language of Physics is Math. I think it's quite hard for a student to memorize all the given equations in the textbook and get a 50. 

[lzxnl]

Memorize? I would like to know why memorizing the formulas is necessary when we have so many "cheat sheets" to bring into the exam.

[09Ti08]

What I mean is there are some formulae that you really need to remember to solve the problems quickly, sometimes it would be a waste of time to look them up on the formula sheet under exam pressure.

[lzxnl]

How many are there?
Newton's second law, acceleration in circular motion, projectile motion equations, constant acceleration formulas, conservation of energy, Kepler's third law (period and radius of orbit), gravitational force formula, magnetic flux, magnetic force on charges and currents, hand rules, resistance and current formulas in series and parallel, relationship between energy and frequency for light, momentum of light, two-slit interference formulas, work function plus any detailed study you may do.

If you write small enough, I'm sure you could fit all of these onto one double-sided A4 page at most. Even so, practice exams will make remembering these easier.

[BigAl]

You're going to see some serious maths in first year physics in uni..but then it's not about plugging  in numbers and getting an answer but its rather an understanding of how these concepts are formulated..

[lzxnl]

Well unfortunately...a lot of the first semester exam was just plugging numbers into formulas. Like in relativity for instance; major number-crunching there, or spring motion.

[asterio]

Straight answer is NO

However, if you want to continue physics in university , then that's a different story...
You will need to be very good at math, in order to understand, and be able to imagine things in your brain...
e.g: imagine what would happen in 5,6,7,8,9,10th dimension