Lectures in the 1st semester

This is a traditional lecture course featuring numerous demonstrations. Its aim is to provide students with a shared and solid foundation in the fields of mechanics, thermodynamics, and electricity. In the PMM II lecture, offered in the summer semester, electricity is explored in greater depth, and an overview of modern physics is presented. The accompanying sub-lecture introduces the mathematical tools required at the beginning of the degree program; these topics are addressed later, in greater depth, in the mathematics courses. The course also includes exercise sessions in which problems related to the lecture content are solved. Detailed information on the exercise sessions and examination dates will be provided during the semester. Further information about Physics I and Physics II can be found here.

The term “exercises” may suggest that familiar material is practised repeatedly in order to achieve mastery or prepare for examinations. In reality, the aim is quite different. The exercises are designed around problems that may initially appear artificial, but which reflect a very natural learning situation: often, neither the question nor the solution is immediately clear, and the required mathematical methods are not yet fully familiar.

The problem sets are distributed one week before the corresponding exercise session and should, as far as possible, be worked on independently at home. If you encounter difficulties, do not be discouraged—students who have explored the problems thoroughly in advance are best prepared to understand where the challenges lie when the solutions are discussed during the exercise session.

Analysis I is one of the fundamental lectures in mathematics. It introduces the mathematical fundamental concepts of set theory, real numbers, and real-valued functions. Key notions such as limits and continuity are presented, along with sequences and series, as well as differential and integral calculus.

This is the second compulsory mathematics lecture of the first semester. It introduces the concepts of vector spaces and linear mappings.

Here, the practicum is synonymous with exercise sessions. Under the guidance of lecturers and teaching assistants, students work on problems based on the lecture material in linear algebra and analysis, with particular emphasis on the formal correctness of proofs.

This lecture is taken in the first semester by students majoring in, minoring in, or taking a supplementary programme in astronomy. It focuses primarily on observational and geodetic astronomy.