ASTR 115
Statistical Mechanics and Its Application to Astrophysics
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Requisites: Mathematics 32B, 33A, 33B, Physics 1A, 1B, and 1C (or 1AH, 1BH, and 1CH). Particle distributions, partition functions, black body radiation, Saha equation, degeneracy. Applications to stellar atmospheres, stellar interiors, and interstellar medium. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2023 - The material covered in this class is very interesting, but I learned absolutely nothing because of how boring her lectures were. I could never force myself to pay attention for longer than 10 minutes, but the homeworks were relatively easy regardless. A lot of R coding assignments, but she guides you through everything it's not even true coding. Was able to teach myself everything for the midterms and final based off a study guide she gave, and was able to do the final project relatively easily with help from the TA. Kind of annoying that there's both a final project and final but it's not too bad.
Winter 2023 - The material covered in this class is very interesting, but I learned absolutely nothing because of how boring her lectures were. I could never force myself to pay attention for longer than 10 minutes, but the homeworks were relatively easy regardless. A lot of R coding assignments, but she guides you through everything it's not even true coding. Was able to teach myself everything for the midterms and final based off a study guide she gave, and was able to do the final project relatively easily with help from the TA. Kind of annoying that there's both a final project and final but it's not too bad.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2019 - The professor introduced a lot of concepts in class, however, none can be found directly on the textbooks and he tends to skip around class materials a lot. In addition, he gave out a lot of extra credits on hw and test (although none of us have time to do them). I will say the class is really hard and he didn't explain all concept thoroughly. The exercises he gave out during discussions are also not that relatable to class material either.
Winter 2019 - The professor introduced a lot of concepts in class, however, none can be found directly on the textbooks and he tends to skip around class materials a lot. In addition, he gave out a lot of extra credits on hw and test (although none of us have time to do them). I will say the class is really hard and he didn't explain all concept thoroughly. The exercises he gave out during discussions are also not that relatable to class material either.