(no subject)

I began reviewing in earnest for the physics GRE tonight. I'm finding that studying for it is really a useful exercise in reviewing basic physics; perhaps the GRE isn't as useless of a test as people sometimes make it out to be. I spent the evening after choir reworking the practice test I did over the weekend, trying to get all the ones I got wrong. Among the things I've been made to review in the process are the true meaning of the equipartition theorem (1/2 kT per independent quadratic term in the Hamiltonian, rather than necessarily per degree of freedom), the use of the thin lens formula, and the method of images in electrostatics. Oh, and the standard deviation of Poisson-distributed data is equal to the square root of the mean. It was particularly satisfying to reread Reif's mathematically elegant derivation of the equipartition theorem. Much more remains - I'm only 1/4 of the way through the exam. But now it is time for sleep.