## Welcome to PHY 481 ### Electrostatics Prof. Danny Caballero Mr. Dennis Foren

### Contacting Danny Office: 1310-A BPS Email: <caballero@pa.msu.edu> Cell phone: 517-420-5330 (texting is fine) ### Contacting Dennis Email: <forenden@msu.edu>

### Important Sites * Course Webpage: [dannycab.github.io/phy481msu/](http://dannycab.github.io/phy481msu/) * Discussion Forum: [ piazza.com/msu/fall2016/phy481](https:// piazza.com/msu/fall2016/phy481) (*Check your email*)

### Course Activities * Exams (2 of them; October 5 & November 2) - 20% each * Final Exam (Time and Location: TBD) - 20% * Homework (Lots of it; Due on Fridays) - 40% * Clickers - Extra Credit - reduce impact of exams [Much more detail on website](http://dannycab.github.io/phy481msu/)

Learning is a social and collaborative act! ### Homework Help Session **Evening session twice per week (Location TBD)** Question to you: When should we do this? 1. Monday 6pm-7pm+ 2. Tuesday 6pm-7pm+ 3. Wednesday 6pm-7pm+ 4. Thursday 6pm-7pm+ Reminder: Homework is due on Fridays.

How likely are you to attend the help sessions? 1. Very likely; I'll attend one or both. 2. Likely, but only if the “+” extends past 7 3. Not likely, I really want a different day/time 4. I’m unlikely to attend regardless of schedule

## This Week!!! * Homework 1 is already up (Due Sept. 9) * Read (seriously do this!) Griffiths Ch 1.1-1.4 & 2.1-2.2 [1] * [Download Anaconda distribution of Python](https://www.continuum.io/downloads) **Stay up-to-date by checking website, calendar, and discussion forum regularly.** [1]: *I am assuming that Ch. 1 of Griffiths is mostly review.*

### Computational Homework problems * We will be using Python on homework problems this semester. * Installation instructions appear on the piazza site. * Homework questions will take the form of [a Jupyter notebook](https://github.com/dannycab/phy481msu/blob/gh-pages/jupyter/HW1-GradientProblem.ipynb), which you can print to PDF and turn in. * If you get stuck somewhere, post on piazza, so your classmates benefit from your question.

Thinking of what you want to get out of your college education and this course, which of the following is *most* important to you? 1. Acquiring information (facts, principles, concepts, procedures) 2. Learning how to use information and knowledge in new situations 3. Developing lifelong learning skills

All three of these goals are clearly important. However, which of these three goals do you think you can do on our own (say, before class)? 1. Acquiring information (facts, principles, concepts, procedures) 2. Learning how to use information and knowledge in new situations 3. Developing lifelong learning skills

# Questions?

## What do you think PHY 481 is about?

### Electromagnetism is the foundational field theory of physics Think about everything you already know about electromagnetism (it's a lot already!). Work with a partner to map out the electromagnetism concepts that you know and how they are related to each other.