Resources
A place for some (hopefully helpful) resources for physics students.
Info for first years enrolling into second year
Slides from our first year info session detailing enrolment information, course list and some general advice.
Download here
Note: information presented is accurate for students following the 2013 plan, which is subject to change each year.
Physics Course Webpages
As physicists do not like using moodle/blackboard
Courses by Gary Morriss (PHYS3021/3510/2050)
PHYS3610 Computational Physics
PHYS3710 Cosmology and the Interstellar Medium
Textbooks
The Physoc Room holds a collection of physics and maths texts. Stay tuned for a list of avaliable books.
Mathematica
https://www.it.unsw.edu.au/downloads/uauth/software/mathematica/mathematica_licence_codes.html
You'll need to enter your student ID and UniPass to get through. You can download the software for your OS and activate it by using the network licence (licence server: wolfram.lic.unsw.edu.au); but you must be on UNSW's network for it to activate. You can also use UNSW's VPN (vpn.unsw.edu.au) if you're at home. Alternatively, you can request a home use license for 12 months (using your unsw email address, via link above), but that might take a bit of time for the request to be approved.
Forums
The school of physics hosts a forum here for all physics students. Registration is required.
\(\LaTeX\)
\(\LaTeX\) is a markup language similar to html that is specifically designed for typesetting equations and page layouts for scientific essays. It also has the advantage of being completely free to download and use.
Installation
Windows: The easiest way to install is to download MiKTeX, an all inclusive package with an editor and \(\LaTeX\) code compiler.
Linux: Most Linux distributions include \(\LaTeX\) as part of their repositories, a simple search
is usually able to find it. For example, Ubuntu's \(\LaTeX\) package is called texlive.
If you are using emacs, installing auctex adds \(\LaTeX\) support.
Mac: Similarly to windows, a package called MacTeX is avaliable for download
\(\LaTeX\) Resources:
The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX (PDF) An excellent guide, and probably the best place to start learning.
LaTeX Wikibook An excellent reference for \(\LaTeX\) commands
Ben Roberts has also written a quick beginners guide to \(\LaTeX\) that is avaliable in the Docs section of the PHYSOC Facebook page, or by clicking here.
Austin Kong has written some macros to make typing up some common maths and physics objects easier. Also includes a few handy equations as demos. Download here.
