Introductory physics textbooks

JAN 01, 1968

This aid to those interested in the varieties of form and content contains an extensive survey of over 50 books. Prefaces, tables of contents, general levels of mathematical and physical sophistication and the kinds of problems and other study aids are examined and commented upon.

DOI: 10.1063/1.3034743

Peter G. Roll

DURING THE ACADEMIC YEAR 1961–62, the only year for which reliable information has been collected, almost 190 000 students were enrolled in the first term of one of approximately 1700 introductory physics courses offered by the nation’s two‐ and four‐year colleges, universities and technical institutes. A reasonable extrapolation of these figures from the intervening six years suggests that this spring and summer about 2000 physics professors must decide either to continue using their present introductory texts or to select a new one from among a dozen or two that are intended for their particular kind of introductory course. These decisions determine what books are purchased by well over 200 000 students next fall, and how the $1 or $2 million gross receipts from the sale of new introductory physics textbooks are distributed among the various publishers.

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References

1. Physics Education, Employment, and Financial Support—A Statistical Handbook (American Institute of Physics Publication No. R‐161, New York, 1964), pp. 1–20.
2. Physics Manpower, 1966 (American Institute of Physics Publication No. R‐196, New York, 1966), pp. 25–27;
S. D. Ellis, PHYSICS TODAY 20, no. 3, 75 (1967).https://doi.org/PHTOAD
3. PHYSICS TODAY 20, no. 3, 25–73 (1967). https://doi.org/PHTOAD
Reprints may be obtained by writing to PHYSICS TODAY.
4. Am. J. Phys. 25, 417 (1957); https://doi.org/AJPIAS
28, 568 (1960).https://doi.org/AJPIAS , Am. J. Phys.
5. Am. J. Phys. 30, 1 (1962); https://doi.org/AJPIAS
32, 397–497 (1964); https://doi.org/AJPIAS , Am. J. Phys.
34, 833–894 (1966).https://doi.org/AJPIAS , Am. J. Phys.
6. M. E. Warga, J. Opt. Soc. Am. 55, 901 (1965); https://doi.org/JOSAAH
M. E. Warga, J. W. Quinn, Am. J. Phys. (to be published).
7. The Computer in Physics Instruction, Commission on College Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Md. (1966).
8. PHYSICS TODAY, 20, no. 6, 9–15 (1967); https://doi.org/PHTOAD
op. cit. ref. 3.

More about the Authors

Peter G. Roll. University of Minnesota.