One Sheet Math Review

by Robert G. Brown Duke University Physics Department Durham, NC 27708-0305 Copyright Robert G. Brown, 2024

This is a set of one-sheet review pages for the critical math needed in typical introductory physics classes. It is not exhaustive, but is most of what you need at least to get started and get to where filling in missing details is fairly easy or a matter of extending things known from the sheets.

The first four sheets are needed in any introductory physics class. The last two are specialized (probably inadequate) introductions of surface and line integrals for electricity and magnetism (usually Introductory Physics 2 in most sequences).

Students are strongly recommended to download this guide and print it and keep it with their physics notes or on their personal digital device(s) -- it is free -- and periodically review it until it all comes easy. It is a simple observational fact that students that have not mastered this math by the final exam in either Introductory Physics 1 or Introductory Physics 2 lose anywhere from five to ten points even if they have otherwise mastered the conceptual physics, and of course the damage can be much greater.

Good luck! Feel free to contact me with e.g. bug reports or problems.