No matter how much we may hate math at school, it is the fundamental knowledge we need to be able to succeed in learning physics. Without math, physics is non-existent. Math is the peanut butter, physics is the jelly. Math is the ice cream, physics is the anchovies. Inseparable. So even if you hate your math teacher, and decided to drop out of that course - DON'T! Not only are you eliminating hundreds of possible jobs in the future, your Physics Phantasies will be crushed. The Phlying Physicists warn -- algebra and trigonometry may sometimes seem retarded and purposeless but you need them more than you can imagine.

The very first lesson, (and remember: although you maybe in grade 10, 11 or 12, this is only Physics Grade 1--maybe even kindergarten), is how to use algebra and graphing to help you understand and solve physics problems. Read carefully, this may even inflate your math mark. If you feel you are mathematically experienced, and can do such things as algebra and graphing, please skip this chapter.

Oh, and math doesn't mean that we're going to bore you with an infinite amount of numbers. We're going to bore you with other things too. Just kidding. Math, and more importantly, physics, is all about relationships. Remember that word. Re-la-tion-ships. Say it. Again. Ok good. Relationships can be expressed with numbers or even by drawing graphs. It is with relationships we can develop the fundamental laws of physics.



The laws of physics are often stated as equations. For example, a very simple law, one of the first you'll learn with the Phlying Physicists is:

F=ma

This means that we take "m" (You'll find out later that "m" is mass) and multiply it by "a" (acceleration) to get "F" (Force).

But lets say your teacher asked you to find "a" instead of "F". You can use the algebra you learn here to figure it out. How do you solve for "a"? You must manipulate the equation until the "a" is all by itself on one side, instead of the "F". To manipulate an algebraic equation, you perform the same operation on each side of the equation.



If the equation contains several factors, you keep repeating the same process of doing something to one side of the equation and the same thing to the other side, until the unknown is isolated.

Algebra is not very complicated as you can see. It used mainly to find the value of an unknown variable. It is not rocket science, but that is coming up later. (Just kidding.)

Graphs are valuable and important because they can often show the relationship (there's that word again!) that exists between events. When a scientist wants to draw a picture of physics, (s)he draws a graph! Ask Phrank!

During an experiment, one quantity is called the independent variable which is carefully changed. The dependent variable is measured for each measurement of the independent variable. The values of the independent variable are plotted horizontally (on the x-axis) and the dependent variable values are plotted, you guessed it, vertically (on the y-axis). Then, a curve or line is drawn by the plotted points (or best fit). Take a look at this "hot" example.






An important part of graphs is finding the slope. The slope of a graph is a measurement of the angle of the graph. All you need to calculate it is two points. The slope of the graph in the previous example can be calculated easily. To find slope, you need to divide the RISE by the RUN.

Pick 2 points on the line, say the first, at (1,1) and the last, at (11,11). What is the horizontal distance between the first point and the last point? If we look at the bottom of the graph, we see that the horizontal position of the first point is 1, and the horizontal position of the second point is 11. Subtract. 11-1 = 10. The horizontal distance is 10. Similarly, we can see that the vertical distance between the first and last points is 10. Therefore, the RISE is 10, and the RUN is 10. Slope is RISE divided by RUN. 10 divided by 10 equals 1. The slope of this graph is 1.

When something has an inverse relation with another, it means as one quantity increases as the other decreases, and vice versa. An inverse relationship is expressed, generally, in the following equation: y = k/x, where k is a constant. You can find the slope of an inverse relationship just as you would a linear relationship. A graph of this equation looks something like the graph shown below:




All three of these relationships will prove to be very important and useful in the upcoming topics the Phlying Physicists will be teaching you!

Since all physicists should be using the metric system (as a worldwide standard, when you one day become a world renown physicist), you should learn the following table to help you convert units of measurement. Although you can find this table here and in our quick reference, if you learn it, you could calculate faster... and maybe one day this site will not be available to you. We know that makes you want to cry, but then what are you going to do?




Please continue your learning of physics by moving on to the next chapter.