Physics Problem Solver (Rea's Problem Solvers)

Rating:
Summary: Especially good for AP Physics and Intro. College courses
Review: As a physics and astronomy major in college, I wanted to say how much this book helped me in the years past. This book is undoubtedly the BEST textbook "supplement" that a student in AP Physics (B or C) or a beginning physics major can have! This Problem Solver is exactly what it says it is - a book full of physics problems worked out in detailed solutions. All too often I hear people complain that these books are not very helpful because they're not organized better, etc. But that's nonsense! If you're in one of the above-mentioned courses and it's late one night and you're stuck on a homework problem...there's a VERY GOOD chance that there's a problem in this book that you can use to work through the solution. This book should not be used as a study guide, but as a reference source for anywhere from beginning to more advanced problems. The wide range of difficulty level is the best reason to have this book because rarely do textbooks have examples that are difficult. Textbooks like to show "easy" examples in then the student gets stuck on the more challenging homework assignments and exams. This book is well worth the money!

Rating:
Summary: Especially good for AP Physics and Intro. College courses
Review: As a physics and astronomy major in college, I wanted to say how much this book helped me in the years past. This book is undoubtedly the BEST textbook "supplement" that a student in AP Physics (B or C) or a beginning physics major can have! This Problem Solver is exactly what it says it is - a book full of physics problems worked out in detailed solutions. All too often I hear people complain that these books are not very helpful because they're not organized better, etc. But that's nonsense! If you're in one of the above-mentioned courses and it's late one night and you're stuck on a homework problem...there's a VERY GOOD chance that there's a problem in this book that you can use to work through the solution. This book should not be used as a study guide, but as a reference source for anywhere from beginning to more advanced problems. The wide range of difficulty level is the best reason to have this book because rarely do textbooks have examples that are difficult. Textbooks like to show "easy" examples in then the student gets stuck on the more challenging homework assignments and exams. This book is well worth the money!

Rating:
Summary: Good Supplementary Practice, but that is it.
Review: I am currently an engineering student, but I bought this book back in my highschool days for an AP Physics C class. I'd like to say that this book covers about every topic you can possibly imagine in physics at the introductory level. But even so, I'd rate it as just average. It may have some good interesting problems, but not many will find it worth the money. You may not even use more than a tenth of the book.

First of all, I dislike the layout of the book. The text is some courier font which makes it very difficult to read and thus difficult looking. The book is divided into chapters based on topic. The topics are pretty specific: Kinematics, Dynamics, Statics, etc. It starts out the chapter by 'trying' to teach you about that subject, but it fails entirely. The problems start out as easy as F = ma, but then suddenly jumps to extreme difficulty. I topped physics back in highschool and aced the APs, but I still found many of the problems extremely challenging. Just be warned that you had better be good in physics and also guessing as the solutions are also often anything but clear. It jumps around assuming you know whatever they are doing. Most of my friends who have borrowed the book have been unable to utilize it at all due to its difficulty.

In conclusion, if you are above average to excellent in physics, have nothing better to do, then you may want to just pick up this book as an extra supplement to challenge yourself or learn new methods in doing things. It maybe more useful in college where they split physics into more specific courses like dynamics, statics, electric circuits, etc. But by that time this book would be insufficient anyways. I just don't know what market the publishers were publishing for, as it is generally AP irrelevant, GCE irrelevant, and either too easy or too hard.

Rating:
Summary: Completely Useless
Review: I have attempted numerous times to use examples from this book as guidance when stuck on homework problems assigned in my engineering physics course and have found that the book offers nothing but further frustration. It's unorganized, the typeset is monotonous and appears as if someone typed the book on a typewriter making it difficult to focus and follow the text, and I have yet to find a worked example that has been of any use whatsoever in completing even one of my homework problems.
The book does offer a lengthy chart of conversion factors.

Rating:
Summary: I like it! i like it a lot!
Review: I thought the Physics Problem Solver was nothing less of miraculous! I'm a student who is learning on his own, so it often helps that after I learn a subject in physics from the book I'm using (Resnick & Halliday) I want more problems to make sure I know the material - this book fits the bill so excellently! Problems on every undergraduate aspect of physics that you can think of - starts each section with easy problems to get you into it and then gradually gets harder until an understanding of calculus is required.
In short, I think this book is excellent and I would recommend it to any physics student.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome book
Review: This book contained in depth explanations for many of the problems I encountered in AP Physics. A must for anyone going into Physics

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good book
Review: This is a great book with more than a thousand actual physics problem, ranging from the high school level to university level (with vector calculus).

While the book claims it's enough of a supplement to any textbook, there have been quite a few instances where it wasn't enough.

So my advice is, don't use this book as a solution manual. Rather, like me, use it as a prep guide. Before exams, look over the problems related to what you're getting tested on (the book's table of contents and index are really good), and look over or even work through the problems.