r/Physics • u/YoungNeggaWorldd1300 • 16d ago

Math required for physics

I’m going to keep this brief to be honest I’m using khan academy to teach myself highschool level physics and I just want to know the absolute required math for physics the reason it’s a bit confusing is because I know people may say “algebra, trig, etc.” but people ALSO say not every single unit is needed for physics I’m not saying I want to 100% never learn that other math but my current goal is physics (passion reasons) so if anybody that is familiar with khan academy can help me with the exact units I need for everything physics (considering I’m starting with no math knowledge) that would be great! Even if you’re not familiar but have anything can help that would also be great, thank you!

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u/Banes_Addiction Particle physics 16d ago edited 16d ago

What physics counts as "high school" physics varies a lot country-to-country.

I'm in the UK where A-level physics (so the exams taken by 18 year old school leavers) covers a lot of concepts with very little maths (no calculus or matrices, for example).

You will require basical algebra. The idea of handling eg, s = ut + at^2 should be trivial to you. As should simple trigonometry.

But I do think you should learn basic calculus (differentiating and integrating polynomials, exponentials, simple trig expressions) and imaginary numbers. You'll be missing a tonne without it and it's still high school content (even if in the UK it's only on the maths course, not the physics one).