Hello everyone,

I am thinking of minoring in Astronomy but this decision is only tentative. Even if I change my mind, I would like to take the courses pertaining to Astronomy for interest. On the website for Undergraduate Calendar, you will have to take these first-year courses:

-ASTRON 1F03
-PHYSICS 1B03

I plan to take these courses in the summer, but I also saw on the website that one of the prerequisites for the second course is Math 1A03. I'm not in science, only in nursing. Do I still need to take the math course?

Thanks! and Happy Halloween!

Yes. This is because Math 1A03 has pre-requisite knowledge that is beneficial for the study of Physics 1B03 (not simply because it's necessary "on paper"). This might be more difficult to accomplish in Nursing due to pre-requisite space and so forth, but unfortunately you would take the same physics/astronomy that a physics major would, and be subject to all necessary pre-requisite knowledge in order to be successful.

If you've taken Calculus in high school, you may be able to see someone about getting this requirement waived...however in my opinion this would be unwise if you plan to take upper level Astronomy or Physics courses. These are "math-heavy" and will almost certainly require at least a fundamental understanding of single-variable calculus (Math 1A + 1AA), and possibly even more. I'd recommend looking into the pre-requisites required for some of the other astronomy/physics courses you'd take.

Good luck!

you can take 1ls3 math also. and the info from first year math is not required at all to understand physics 1b03. if this were the case, how could people taking math and physics same term do it?

Originally Posted by Silver

you can take 1ls3 math also. and the info from first year math is not required at all to understand physics 1b03. if this were the case, how could people taking math and physics same term do it?

Beneficial, not required. I do however challenge that someone can "understand" physics without knowledge of calculus. The fact that the early stepping stones of physics can be treated without calculus doesn't mean one possesses more than a basic formulaic understanding of it. (In fact, it's why calculus came to be) Sure, this is enough to get through 1B03, but you're barely scratching the surface of physics, and missing many deep relationships between the concepts. Given the OP is talking about minoring in Astronomy, I felt it pertinent to mention.

In either case however, the physics/math streaming is inherently flawed in our school system (highschool all the way up, as far as I can tell). One must take Physics 2B06 in second year for instance, which almost immediately requires knowledge of vector calculus, (using surface integrals to find flux across various parametrized surfaces) which is Math 2A or 2X/2XX (as you'd imagine, taken as a co-requisite).

Originally Posted by Incognitus

Beneficial, not required. I do however challenge that someone can "understand" physics without knowledge of calculus. The fact that the early stepping stones of physics can be treated without calculus doesn't mean one possesses more than a basic formulaic understanding of it. (In fact, it's why calculus came to be) Sure, this is enough to get through 1B03, but you're barely scratching the surface of physics, and missing many deep relationships between the concepts. Given the OP is talking about minoring in Astronomy, I felt it pertinent to mention.

In either case however, the physics/math streaming is inherently flawed in our school system (highschool all the way up, as far as I can tell). One must take Physics 2B06 in second year for instance, which almost immediately requires knowledge of vector calculus, (using surface integrals to find flux across various parametrized surfaces) which is Math 2A or 2X/2XX (as you'd imagine, taken as a co-requisite).

yes, she asked about physics 1b03. the knowledge from first year math isnt needed to do physics 1b03. she will still need to do the math nonetheless to do the minor. i dont know what your reply was supposed to mean.

Check the undergraduate calendar to confirm but for a minor in astronomy you might need some of the upper year courses (Galaxy and Cosmology, and Stellar Structure).

And it is too late now but ASTRON 1F03 is only offered first term, never in the summer. It is a great course, easy too but you will need to take it in second year first term instead. But no need to worry since it is not a prerequisite for any other course.

Personally I would recommend taking Math 1A03 because a lot of the math will carry over and math is fundamental to understanding physics not to mention it doesn't hurt to know regardless of what field you end up going into.

TL: DR - Take Math 1A03, and Astron 1F03 is term 1 only

Thank you so much for all your answers. Since Astron 1F03 is not offered in summer, I plan to take it as an elective in the first term next year. I have one last question: can you take both Math 1A03 and Physics 1B03 in one term or do they have to be taken in two terms?

1 term is fine.