OER at UTSA

Astronomy for Educators provides new and accomplished K-12 instructors with concepts and projects for low-cost, high-impact STEM classroom instruction that is built around the National Academies National Research Council's K-12 Framework for Science Education.

This introductory, algebra-based, two-semester college physics book is grounded with real-world examples, illustrations, and explanations to help students grasp key, fundamental physics concepts. College Physics can be downloaded now by clicking on the "Get this book" button below. This online, fully editable and customizable title includes learning objectives, concept questions, links to labs and simulations, and ample practice opportunities to solve traditional physics application problems.

Motivated by questions in cosmology, the 2018 edition of Geometry with an Introduction to Cosmic Topology follows the Erlangen program to develop hyperbolic, elliptic, and Euclidean geometry - three possibilities for the global geometry of the universe. The text uses Mobius transformations in the extended complex plane to define and investigate these three candidate geometries, thereby providing a natural setting in which to express results common to them all, as well as results that encapsulate key differences. With these geometries in hand, the text then explores the interplay between the shape of a space and the type of geometry it admits. It is written to be suitable for a one semester course in geometry or as a guide to independent study, with over 200 exercises and several essays on topics such as the history of geometry, parallax and curvature, and research aimed at determining the shape of the universe.

This is a “minimalist” textbook for a first semester of university, calculus-based physics, covering classical mechanics (including one chapter on mechanical waves, but excluding fluids), plus a brief introduction to thermodynamics. The presentation owes much to Mazur’s The Principles and Practice of Physics: conservation laws, momentum and energy, are introduced before forces, and one-dimensional setups are thoroughly explored before two-dimensional systems are considered. It contains both problems and worked-out examples.

Two dramatically different philosophical approaches to classical mechanics were developed during the 17th - 18th centuries. Newton developed his vectorial formulation that uses time-dependent differential equations of motion to relate vector observables like force and rate of change of momentum. Euler, Lagrange, Hamilton, and Jacobi, developed powerful alternative variational formulations based on the assumption that nature follows the principle of least action. These powerful variational formulations have become the preeminent philosophical approach used in modern science, was well as having applications to other fields such as economics and engineering.This book introduces variational principles, and illustrates the intellectual beauty, the remarkable power, and the broad scope, of applying variational principles to classical mechanics. A brief review of Newtonian mechanics compares and contrasts the relative merits of the intuitive Newtonian vectorial formulation, with the more powerful analytical variational formulations. Applications presented cover a wide variety of topics, as well as extensions to accommodate relativistic mechanics, and quantum theory.