From May to August, 1996 and 1997, a question was published here every Friday. Its solution was published the following Friday. These questions and their solutions are available from the Question Archive below.
The questions can help you with your mathematical preparation for first-year Physics and Astronomy courses at the University of Calgary (with the exception of Astronomy 205 which has lower mathematics requirements.)
However, physics is not mathematics, and having these mathematical exercises does not prove that physics is some form of applied mathematics. The exercises are useful because, as Galileo already said some 400 years ago, mathematics is the language of physics. Mathematics can make our ideas about the natural world precise, and nature seems to go along with this "unreasonably successful" approach. This is why physicists use mathematics and this is why you have to speak this language in order to understand better what is being said in your physics course. However, please keep in mind that the focus of physics is always on understanding the natural world, not on the mathematics.
For help with the questions, start by consulting your high school textbook(s). The area from which a question is drawn is indicated with each question. Some of the questions are quite challenging and may go somewhat beyond the difficulty level that you are used to seeing. These questions are indicated as "difficult". If you want additional information or if you have suggestions for this question page, please contact Hans Laue, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Calgary, email: hlaue@phas.ucalgary.ca, phone: 220 6909.
The last Question-of-the-Week in 1997 was given on August 15, 1997. All questions given up to this point, together with their solutions, are available in the Question Archive below.
The Question Archive contains past questions and their answers with solutions. The questions are grouped into one-month blocks.