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All course assignments and other relevant news for Physics 214
students will be posted on this website. General information about
Physics 214, including the course syllabus, has been posted to
Section I
of this webpage
The General Information and Syllabus handout is available
in either PDF or Postscript format
[PDF | Postscript]
Some of the information in this handout is reproduced here.
General Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Instructor | Howard Haber | |
| Office | ISB 326 | |
| Phone | 459-4228 | |
| Office Hours | Mondays 2--4 pm or by appointment | |
| haber@scipp.ucsc.edu | ||
| academic webpage | http://scipp.ucsc.edu/~haber/ | |
Lectures: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:40 am -- 1:15 pm
Classical Electrodynamics, 3rd Edition, by John David Jackson [Errata for the 18th reprinting (dated 2008) can be found here in PDF format.]
40% Homework (5 problem sets)
20% Midterm Exam (take-home exam--pick up in class on Tuesday February 17 and return to class on Thursday February 19)
40% Final Exam (Wednesday March 18, 2026, from 4--7 pm)
Homework assignments are not optional. Homework assignments are due on Tuesdays (with two weeks allotted for each homework set). You are encouraged to discuss the class material and homework problems with your classmates (and ChatGPT) and to work in groups, but all submitted problems should represent your own work and understanding.
The final exam will be held in ISB 231. This exam will be three hours long and cover the complete course material. You must take the final exam to pass the course. You will be permitted to consult any textbook of your choosing, your own handwritten notes, and any class handout (including solutions to the problem sets) during the final exam.
Problem sets and exams are available in either PDF or postscript formats.
1. A superb resource for both the elementary functions and the special functions of mathematical physics is the Handbook of Mathematical Functions by Milton Abramowitz and Irene A. Stegun, which is freely available on-line. The home page for this resource can be found here. There, you will find links to a frames interface of the book. Another scan of the book can be found here.
2. The NIST Handbook of Mathematical Functions (published by Cambridge University Press), together with its Web counterpart, the NIST Digital Library of Mathematical Functions (DLMF), is the culmination of a project that was conceived in 1996 at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The project had two equally important goals: to develop an authoritative replacement for the highly successful Handbook of Mathematical Functions with Formulas, Graphs, and Mathematical Tables, published in 1964 by the National Bureau of Standards (M. Abramowitz and I. A. Stegun, editors); and to disseminate essentially the same information from a public Web site operated by NIST. The new Handbook and DLMF are the work of many hands: editors, associate editors, authors, validators, and numerous technical experts. The NIST Handbook covers the properties of mathematical functions, from elementary trigonometric functions to the multitude of special functions. All of the mathematical information contained in the Handbook is also contained in the DLMF, along with additional features such as more graphics, expanded tables, and higher members of some families of formulas. A PDF copy of the handbook is provided here: [PDF]
3. One of the classic references to special functions is a three volume set entitled Higher Transcendental Functions, [Volumes I--III] (edited by A. Erdelyi), which was compiled in 1953 and is based in part on notes left by Harry Bateman. This was the primary reference for a generation of physicists and applied mathematicians, which is colloquially referred to as the Bateman Manuscripts. This esteemed reference work continues to be a valuable resources for students and professionals. PDF versions of the three volumes are now available free of charge. Check out the three volumes by clicking on the relevant links here: [Volume 1 | Volume 2 | Volume 3 | Errata--Volume 1 | Errata--Volume 2]
4. Another very useful reference for both the elementary functions and the special functions of mathematical physics is An Atlas of Functions (2nd edition) by Keith B. Oldham, Jan Myland and Jerome Spanier, published by Springer Science in 2009. This resource is freely available on-line to students at the University of California. [PDF]
5. Yet another excellent website for both the elementary functions and the special functions of mathematical physics is the Wolfram Functions site. This site was created with Mathematica and is developed and maintained by Wolfram Research with partial support from the National Science Foundation. Additional mathematical information can be found on the related Wolfram MathWorld site.
6. One of my favorite books on special functions is Special Functions and Their Applications by N.N. Lebedev (Dover Publications, Inc., Mineola, NY, 1972). It provides invaluable information on special functions, while being extremely cheap to buy (and even cheaper to peruse on Google Books).
7. In working out Jackson problems, you will encounter many difficult integrals. Although you may be tempted to use Mathematica or Maple (which sometimes is the easiest approach), I cannot overestimate the value of a good table of integrals. Professionals always choose first to consult the Table of Integrals, Series and Products, 8th edition, by I.S. Gradshteyn and Ryzhik, edited by Daniel Zwillinger and Victor Moll (Academic Press, Elsevier, Inc., Amsterdam, 2015). This resource is freely available on-line to students at the University of California at this link. The erratum to the 8th edition of the Table of Integrals, Series and Products can be found here: [PDF]
1. Electromagnetic Field Theory by Bo Thidé is the result of a long standing advanced electrodynamics internet textbook project, roughly at the same level as Jackson. A companion book with exercises (electrodynamics problems with solutions) is available for free download too.
2. Classical Electrodynamics, Part II by Robert G. Brown is a set of notes written for a graduate electrodynamics course taught at Duke University. These notes have evolved into an online book that is available here: [PDF | Postscript]
3. Macroscopic Electrodynamics by Walter Wilcox and Chris Thron is the online version of the 2nd edition of a book by the same name that was published in March, 2024 by World Scientific.
4. Electromagnetic Waves and Antennas, by Sophocles J. Orfanidis is freely available here: [PDF]
5. Pawel Klimas has provided on his webpage access to his lecture notes on classical electrodynamics. For your convenience, I have collected these notes in a single PDF file, which is provided here: [PDF]
6. Nicholas Wheeler, who taught physics at Reed College for many years left a valuable collection of his lecture notes which can be accessed from his webpage. Among the many documents available to the public, I found an almost completed textbook entitled Principles of Classical Electrodynamics--A Laptop Text.
7. David Tong has published a superb collection of books covering all
aspects of physics. His book entitled Electromagntism
was published by Cambridge University Press in 2025. This book is
based on lecture notes that can be found here: [PDF]
VIII. Other books of interest
1. Davon Ferrara, who was once a physics graduate student at Vanderbilt University claimed that everything he needed to know in life he learned from Jackson Electrodynamics. To verify his assertion, he posted the following document, available here in your choice of formats: [PDF | DOCX]
1. One of the most prolific sources for pedagogical treatments of a variety of interesting problems in classical electrodynamics is a webpage maintained by Kirk T. McDonald entitled Physics Examples and other Pedagogic Diversions. Although some of the content is password protected, most of the articles listed are available freely.
2. Which direction is the electric field rotating in a left or right circularly polarized wave? Check out the Wikipedia page on circular polarization, which provides some enlightening animations that illustrate the answer to this question.
3. Hitler learns Jackson E&M. One of the strangest YouTube Videos you may encounter, with some relevance to Physics 214. [Video]
4. Quora attempts to provide an answer to the following question: Theoretical physicists, what is the most difficult class you had to take? Click here for the responses.