• Halliday, Resnick & Walker, Fundamentals of Physics, Extended 8th Ed., with WebAssign. If you did not purchase WebAssign with the text, you can buy it online at http://www.webassign.com/.
• Physics 132 Laboratory Manual

• This course is a calculus-based introduction to the foundations of electricity and magnetism, intended for students majoring in science or engineering. Our emphasis will be on identifying, understanding, and applying the fundamental principles of electric fields and potentials, basic circuits, magnetic fields, and electromagnetic waves.
  

• You must have credit for Phys 131; you must be enrolled in Math 162 unless you already have credit for that course.
  

• A help session will be held every Thursday at 4:10 pm in a room to be announced. Office hours will be posted on my online schedule. Please feel free to call or email with your questions also.
  

• If I am unable to make it to class, I will leave a message on my voicemail (610-330-5211).
  

• Reading: It is crucial that you read the assigned material before the relevant lecture. Your text is a critical resource for this class -- it is our source of definitions, facts, ideas, explanations, derivations and worked examples. I do not intend to spend class time simply repeating the text. Instead, class time will be used to discuss those ideas, answer questions, observe demonstrations, work additional examples, and practice applying those ideas to various physical situations. See the daily syllabus for the assigned readings each day.
  
  
• Ask questions: If you are confused, it is important that you stop me and try to sort it out rather than fall behind. Please interrupt my lecture whenever anything isn't clear. Remember that if you are confused, there are almost certainly many others in the class who are confused as well, and they would welcome your question.
  
  
• Homework problems: A full understanding of how to apply the mathematical formalisms comes only with much practise. Therefore homework problems are a crucial, probably the most crucial, part of this course. Assignments will be made weekly, with online exercises due each Wednesday and problems on paper due each Friday. It is essential to read the relevant sections of the text and review lecture notes thoroughly before you start to think about the homework problems. Feel free to discuss the problems with one another or (especially) with your instructor, but the paper you submit should represent your own understanding of the problems, written up independently after all discussions are complete. Group solutions are not acceptable. Papers that appear to have been copied from one another or from a published or internet source will be treated as academic dishonesty.
  
  Homework is due at the start of class. Late papers will normally not be accepted, since I will be handing out solutions in class. Written work must be legible. One homework score (normally the lowest) will be dropped in computing your final grade.
  
  
• Laboratory: The laboratory is an essential part of the course. You must complete all of the assigned experiments. Details will be provided by your lab instructor.
  
  
• Exams: There will be three in-class exams as indicated on the syllabus. An equation sheet will be provided by your instructor for each exam. A copy will be provided to you in advance so that you can familiarize yourself with it.
  The idea is that you will use your study time to focus on the fundamental ideas and to practice solving problems rather than to memorize complicated formulae. However, you will do best if you know the material well enough to have in mind the formula you need before you look for it on the equation sheet; use the sheet just to remember where the factors of 2 and &pi belong.
  The goal of the course is to understand and be able to use the basic physics principles, rather than to memorize how to solve specific types of problems. Accordingly, exam problems will not be identical to any particular homework problems, but they will be based on the same principles and can be solved using similar strategies. Practise on the homework problems will be essential in developing the skills and solid understanding of the principles needed to do well on the exams.
  
  To reinforce this emphasis on understanding, the tests may include short answer questions that stress the underlying principles, somewhat similar in spirit to the questions at the end of each chapter.
  
  There will be a comprehensive final exam at a time to be arranged by the registrar. Please do not make travel plans that may conflict with the final exam unless they are absolutely unavoidable. Please bring any conflicts with the time of the final exam to the attention of your instructor as soon as possible.
  
  The final exam will be the same for all sections. The best strategy for preparing for the final exam is to keep up with the course day-by-day and to be sure that you understand every homework problem thoroughly when you hand it in.
  
  
  
• Attendance: Regular class attendance is expected. Too often, erratic attendance and poor performance seem to go together. You are responsible for all material discussed in class along with the reading assigned on the syllabus. Class participation will be considered in your final grade if warranted.
  
  A good rule of thumb is that you should spend approximately two hours outside of class for each hour in class for any college course. This means that you should allow an average of six hours per week studying for physics.

• Homework: 25% total
• Labs: 20% total
• Hour exams: 35% total
• Final exam: 20%

This page is maintained by Lyle Hoffman