Studying physics

So you want to know what it’s like to study physics? THIS PAGE IS A WORK IN PROGRESS.

What skills are useful

What would be useful to learn before starting to study physics?

Math

The most important tool for a physicist is math. You will need all the math from high school and way beyond. In high school you may wonder why so much time and attention is given to getting a routine for calculations that could be done by a calculator or a computer. The reason for this is that at the university level the variables of your equations may be something beyond simple numbers and have properties such as non-commutativity: \(xy \neq yx\). How would you tell your calculator how to handle that?

The calculations will also be a lot longer than in high school, which makes it important not to make simple mistakes with the calculations. But we all do. Quantum field theory is an extreme example, where it’s normal for a single calculation to take more than ten A4 pages.

English

In Finland the Bachelor’s level courses (kandikurssit) are mostly in Finnish, whereas the Master’s level courses (maisterikurssit) are mostly in English. All the literature is in English.

Especially games with lots of dialogue are good for learning the language. You may want to keep the subtitles on so that you’ll both hear and read the new words and phrases that you encounter. Before the high school matriculation exams I played the Mass Effect trilogy and got the highest grade (laudatur).

LaTeX

LaTeX is the de facto writing tool in physics, and at the university you should use it from the very beginning of your studies. To get a head start it’s a good idea to start using it already in high school for your reports.

Python

Nearly every physicist will need some form of programming during their career.

Linux

Lots of scientific software works only on Linux. This is especially the case for large-scale physics simulations, as scientific supercomputers use Linux almost exclusively. If you’re interested in simulations or experimental particle physics, you should also become familiar with the command line, especially bash, as nearly all interaction with supercomputers is done with an SSH shell.

The best way to learn Linux is to install it as your primary operating system alongside Windows, which is known as dual booting. Then you learn as you go.

Books

Back when I was in high school, I had no idea what kind of books are used at the university level. Therefore, I thought it might be a good idea to give an overview of the books I’ve used in my studies. If you read these before taking the corresponding courses and especially their prerequisites, don’t be scared! These are highly complex topics that take years to master, and even having a look at their contents beforehand will help you a lot in future studies!