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I've done the first part, but I'm having trouble showing |A|² + |B|² = 1. Also, if |A|² + |B|² = 1 as required, what is the interpretation?
Help would be much appreciated !
Wait, does your Director of Studies know you're asking for example sheet help like this? This was covered in lectures anyway, it's trivial... some guy at Jesus who got a 3rd had no problems with that...
Wait, does your Director of Studies know you're asking for example sheet help like this? This was covered in lectures anyway, it's trivial... some guy at Jesus who got a 3rd had no problems with that...
Why on earth would he care? The point of an example sheet is to learn. For your information, I self-taught quantum mechanics for fun over the summer, and so I don't attend any of the lectures for it. If you hadn't been shown how to do it in lectures, you may well have had a lot more trouble with it too, not to mention the guy who got a 3rd. At the end of the day though, I've finished all of the questions on QM sheets 1 and 2, with only a little help, which is more than can be said of most people, even people who got firsts at Trinity. I was talking to a guy who got a middle first this morning, and he said to me he's just finished QM sheet 1, but couldn't do two of the questions at all.
I could talk about how a lot of things on the various example sheets (I'm 3½ sheets ahead in total at the moment) were 'trivial' to me, but that would just be asinine, since different people have trouble with different things. How would you like it if the lecturers took the attitude of "Ohhh, trivial, obvious, too easy, etc..." on things you were having trouble with?
How would you like it if the lecturers took the attitude of "Ohhh, trivial, obvious, too easy, etc..." on things you were having trouble with?
You mean the lecturers these days don't say that?
It's shocking to see the way standards have fallen. What ever happened to the good old days when Bela would put unsolved problems onto the example sheets, and the examiners would have to ring him up on holiday asking him how to answer this years' IA probability questions?
[For the uninitiated: Bela Bollobas's reputation for tough question setting was legendary during my time at Cambridge].
It's shocking to see the way standards have fallen. What ever happened to the good old days when Bela would put unsolved problems onto the example sheets, and the examiners would have to ring him up on holiday asking him how to answer this years' IA probability questions?
[For the uninitiated: Bela Bollobas's reputation for tough question setting was legendary during my time at Cambridge].
Hahaha , they make a conscious point to try not to do that, and they tend to apologise in advance for if they do. We had one lecturer in part IA who did it all the time .
We had Tim Gowers for probability, he was a fantastic lecturer, and a student of Bela himself . Not quite as mean based on what you're saying, heheh!
How were the examinations structured when you were here ?
For IA: 10 questions per paper with marks for the best 7 answers. Four papers.
For IB: Something like 14 questions per paper, no limit on questions answered per paper. Four papers.
For II: 3 papers with something like 35 questions per paper, no limits. One paper with something like 25 questions, only 3 questions to be attempted, each question having double marks.
Other than that last paper, all questions had equal weight. The introduction of "half-weight" questions seems the biggest change between then and now.
For a *very* approximate rule of thumb, you would need something like 12-14 alphas for a first.
For IA: 10 questions per paper with marks for the best 7 answers. Four papers.
For IB: Something like 14 questions per paper, no limit on questions answered per paper. Four papers.
For II: 3 papers with something like 35 questions per paper, no limits. One paper with something like 25 questions, only 3 questions to be attempted, each question having double marks.
Other than that last paper, all questions had equal weight. The introduction of "half-weight" questions seems the biggest change between then and now.
For a *very* approximate rule of thumb, you would need something like 12-14 alphas for a first.
Wow, that does seem pretty different, IB especially. If you had a chance to choose now, would you personally prefer the format you did, or the new format?
Why on earth would he care? The point of an example sheet is to learn. For your information, I self-taught quantum mechanics for fun over the summer, and so I don't attend any of the lectures for it.
Wow, that does seem pretty different, IB especially. If you had a chance to choose now, would you personally prefer the format you did, or the new format?
It's hard to say, not having done the new format. I think it would have given me a bit more breadth (as opposed to concentrating on the topics where I knew I'd get 3-4 questions out) which would have been good, but I think the "half-mark" questions would have been a bit tedious.
On a purely competitive front, since I was probably disproportionately good at "easy" questions, the new system would probably have bumped me a few places up the merit tables for IB and II.
Overall, I think the changes are clearly a good thing for the majority of undergraduates. I think it's more debatable for the top few getting 20+ alphas but they are a very small minority anyhow.
@Yusufu: as it happens, I also self-taught QM. Don't remember much of it now, however.
Well, it was kind of a spontaneous thing - on the last day before I came home I was all like "I should do some work over the summer..." so I got a book out from our library on QM and studied some from there . I was debating whether to get a QM book or fluid dynamics, but QM seemed (and still does seem!) more interesting.
It's shocking to see the way standards have fallen. What ever happened to the good old days when Bela would put unsolved problems onto the example sheets, and the examiners would have to ring him up on holiday asking him how to answer this years' IA probability questions?
[For the uninitiated: Bela Bollobas's reputation for tough question setting was legendary during my time at Cambridge].
I'm pretty sure my lecturers used trivial a lot.
That examiners ringing him up must be apocryphal though. The questions are set long before the exams actually happen!
Well, it was kind of a spontaneous thing - on the last day before I came home I was all like "I should do some work over the summer..." so I got a book out from our library on QM and studied some from there . I was debating whether to get a QM book or fluid dynamics, but QM seemed (and still does seem!) more interesting.
QM is pretty decent. I found Fluids IB to be a great course. Was very much my applied street.
I really doubt he would care if he did. I certainly wouldn't.
Our DoS told us it's okay to discuss with friends but we aren't allowed to go away and ask for answers. If someone flops the exam, they'll look at supervision reports etc. when deciding whether to keep you, and if someone else is giving you the solutions for questions...
Maths revision, coursework or discussion you will find help in here.
Useful Resources:
Quantum Mechanics - Asymptotic Behaviour
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Quantum Mechanics - Asymptotic Behaviour
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, they make a conscious point to try not to do that, and they tend to apologise in advance for if they do. We had one lecturer in part IA who did it all the time 
I'm pretty sure my lecturers used trivial a lot.
