Midterm Tuesday, Oct. 25.

Question time: Monday, Oct. 24, 5:30-6:30pm, 416 Physics

For the midterm, bring a Law Blue Book. The exam is closed
book. You can have one 3"x5" note card and a calculator. You may not 
use your fancy calculator to store information relevant to the exam. 
If any physical constants are needed, I will supply them.

There will be problem solving and some questions asking you to explain
the physics at work in some situation, e.g. "Why"  or "Explain your
answer" questions. Many of the conceptual questions in the back of the
chapters are good.

The midterm will cover the assigned readings up through those for
lecture 8 and all the documents on our website except the one on Fourier
analysis.

The single most important idea is the superposition principle. You
should strive for a very good understanding of that. It is the basis for
many of the other results. 

Geometrical optics will probably appear but will not be a big part of 
the exam. The three standard setups I emphasized in class (and how to
use them) are the most important things. Also good to know is the basic
physics from which those results follow.

Phasors will not be covered specifically. However, if you like that way
of solving  problems, you may find a use for them. The analytical
methods I usually use will work too. 

The chapter summaries are one place to look for an outline of the
material we have covered. Here is my list of the main topics. Those
followed by a * are the most important.

wave basics 
	superposition principle *
		permiates everything but first appears in Ch. 15
	transverse and longitudinal waves 
		Ch. 15, 16
	harmonic waves *
		Ch. 15, 16
	wave equation *
		Ch. 15, 16
	general solution to the 1-dimensional wave equation *
		wave equation (web doc.)  
	standing waves *
		Ch. 15, 16
	energy and power
		Ch. 15, 16, energy and power (web doc.)
	doppler shift 
		Ch. 16
	beats 
		Ch. 16
interference and diffraction *
	basics of positions of maxima and minima *
		Ch. 35
	intensity pattern for 2 and N-slit interference *
		Ch. 35, two source intensity (web doc.) 
		multiple source interference and diffraction (web doc.)
	intensity pattern for 1 slit diffraction *
		Ch. 36, multiple source interference and diffraction (web doc.)
	intensity pattern for interference and diffraction together 
		Ch. 36, interference and diffraction (web doc.)
geometrical optics
	the laws of reflection and refraction
		Ch. 33
	the three standard setups for mirrors, refracting surfaces, and thin
		lenses (and how to use them)
			Ch. 34 or lecture notes

Each of the topics above involves one or two basic ideas, and has just
a few important equations that summarize the topic and from which most
everything else follows. Thus you should try to identify those input
ideas and the important output equations from which everything else can
be derived. The idea is not to know a lot of little things, but rather
to know a few important things very well so that you can get everything
else from those. That is the "way" of physics.