Erickson, Larry  

If you had a strong Physics class before this, you might, MIGHT be alright. Erickson teaches lots of theory and almost never actually goes through a problem. You'll almost never see numbers on test problems, it's all variables. While he is eager to help during office hours, he's not very good at it. Don't try to say anything even remotely contradictory during class or you will end up being degraded. He doesn't collect homework, but if you don't do it, you might as well stop going to class. While Physics isn't exactly the most exciting topic, I think that Erickson probably makes it even harder.

Erickson was horrible. I got a 4 on AP physics and still had to take this class. And I was befuddled by what he was doing half the time. Someone(me once) would almost always mention a better way of doing something and he would look at what he was doing and what your saying and then just say your wrong. I got a problem wrong on a midterm because I write the equation I used next to it. He hates numbers and almost always has you find the answer in variables. He gives these lame quizes every class period that are only like one question. But the quizes are wrong sometimes. The class brought 3 of the quizes to his attention as being wrong and he said it was the classes fault for not mentioning them at the time of the quiz...LAME LAME LAME.

I liked this class. There are 2 types of Physics classes - easy-A ones that teach you nothing and hard ones where you learn a lot and get a poor grade. Erickson mixed the two styles perfectly. You will have to work a little but there is definitely a payoff in the comprehension of the subject. Homework is assigned but not collected (do it), and there are simple concept-based daily quizes. The midterms contain problems straight out of the homework - though in variable form instead of numbers. Don't complain about variables - you should be able to work this way.

He doesn't collect homework! He explains the material very well and is very understanding when a student has difficulties. His midterms were on the easier side and there were 8 problems on the final and we only had to do 7 of them. He would bring little toys into class to demonstrate concepts. I would DEFINETLY recommend this teacher. He is great!

It took me a while to get used to Dr. Erickson but in the end I realized he was a good teacher.We had weekly one or two question quizzes that were right from the lecture. He does a ton of proofs in class and maybe one big example during each lecture for each section. Study the examples in the book and the problems assigned for homework if you want to do well on the midterms and final. Also, go to office hours as this guy is really helpful one on one.

Erickson is a very good lecturer, and really wants his student to do well. Some people rip on him for all his emails, but they are very clear and provide insight into homework and lectures other professors don't bother with. He is also a very comfortable person and will understand if you cannot finish the course after the drop date due to important matters like depression, family finances, or other extreme circumstances, and is a very gracious and compassionate individual. He emailed me, concerned for my standing in the class, and pointed out that a "W" is better than an "F". He also has a box of tissues he's happy to lend to you while you're in his office. I really appreciated his lectures, notes, and his advice while I took him. I'm just sad i couldn't finish.

If you can understand the theory easily its a pretty easy class. His examples are hard to follow at times but once you realize what he is explaining they make sense. He is good at giving extra partial credit if you can explain your reasoning on the quizzes and exams during his office hours. He lets you use a page of notes on the midterms and finals so the tests become theory and algebra exams. If your not good with figuring out the theory on your own don't take him but if you can, he is realtively easy. He gave alot of aero engineering examples so aero major would benefit more than than other types for him.

Don't take Erickson early in the morning, I had him at 8am and it was pretty difficult to stay awake. We had a quiz almost every Thursday, but they were easy, he'd tell us what was on it on the Tuesday lecture. Midterms weren't that hard, but I felt that I was shafted on the first one because I got all the right answers (work shown) and only got a 92/100 because I apparently didn't do them the way he wanted them done. Final was pretty simple...all in all I spent probably 2-3 hrs a week on this class and pulled an A and every bit of that time was on studying because I never did the homework assignments and skipped like 3 lectures. He likes to email a ton of handouts, which, if you read the book are basically useless and his handwriting leaves a bit to be desired. Avg. college prof., nothing excellent to report.

i thought erickson was a really good physics professor. he explains the material, then does examples similar to what would be on a test. theres two midterms and a final. go to class and keep up with the homework. oh and write out ALL your steps on tests, he likes that.

Erickson is not a great teacher. His biggest fault is that in lecture he only does examples and doesn't really explain the concepts. However, his exams are pretty straight forward. If you know how to do all the homework problems, you will do well on the tests. The second test had four problems taken word for word from the homework! Even if you do poorly on the midterms, the final can make up for everything. I got a D on the first test, and a C on the second, but I still ended up with a B because of the final. Biggest recommendation: Do the homework, even though he stops grading it after a few weeks.

The first physics in the series is basically math-based, and since Professor Erickson is a math teacher, it works out well. He's overall a nice guy and is good at presenting the material clearly. Just follow with what he says and keep up with the homework, and you should do fine. I didn't notice this until the end of the quarter, but he does kind of look like a big Ewok.

Professor Erickson has a quiz every Thursday. These aren't too hard and he usually asks a simple problem straight from his lecture. Homework is not required in the class. I did none of it all quarter. Your final exam grade will replace your lowest midterm grade if it is higher than one of your midterm grades. This took my grade from a C to an A. Hes a good Prof all around and teaches with examples, which i found useful.

Erickson goes through examples for the entire class, most of which are fairly difficult and are always done with variables, but he explains every detail clearly. His tests are based on the problems he lectures on. Homework is assigned but not collected. Just pay attention during the lecture and you will learn the material and do well in the class. The only disadvantage is he is a bit of a harsh grader, show every step on the tests for full credit.

Erickson was an alright teacher if you get physics. I took physics in high school and the whole quarter seemed like a review. His weekly quizzes are pretty easy if you do the homework, which he doesn't collect so its easy just to skip out on doing it. However, if you want to do well, do the assigned homework. He mainly teaches by examples. If you are the type who learns by theories don't take this class.

Erickson is a strange guy. He came out on the first day saying that about 20% would fail the class, and my first impression was that he was a mean old man. But after going to office hours and working hard, he is probably one of my favorite professors here. I failed the fist midterm and was worried that I wouldn't pass, but after working on the homework, and going to office hours he saw that I was getting better and somehow I pulled a B. He only has two midterms and about 6-7 quizzes. The first midterm is easier than the second, but you need to make sure you follow his examples in class and understand the homework. He tests are solely based on homework and the exact examples in class. There is no theory when he teaches, so you need to learn that for yourself. But overall if you stay on top of the homework and look over the in class stuff, and you go to office hours when you get confused, you should do fine and never have to worry about it. Homework is not collected, but is really important to do. The second midterm had 2 of 4 questions exactly like the homework. The final is tricky. 8 questions and you choose 7. 5 of 8 are from the last 4 chapters. really study the circular motion and rigid body dynamics. And he has some theory quesions on the end that are pretty easy if you even understand the very basics. Overall he is good, but you will have to take the effort and work and show him that you really understand the material, even if your grade doesn't reflect it.

Larry Erickson is a pretty cool guy and definitely knows his physics. And who wouldnt if they worked at NASA for over 30 years. This class is obviously challenging, but Erickson does a good job at tackling some of the harder problems in mechanics. Dont be too worried if you havent taken a physics class before, even though many have taken and passed AP in high school. I never took AP and i got a B+ and some students in my class who passed it failed Erickson's class. Work hard and you'll be fine.

Erickson is a good professor if you know physics already. He did a ok job at presenting the material but I took this class at 7 am in the morning unfortunately and half the class was asleep. He would ask if anyone had a question and then when someone asked a question he would make that person look really stupid. After that no one ever asked another questions which made learning harder. He will never teach you theory of why things happen. He'll put an equation on the board and show you how to use it. To understand why you have to read the book. Overall if you taken physics, work hard and go to his office hours it should be easy. It's not really him it's the time he teaches that causes people to fail at least with my case.

This class will consume a great deal of your time and effort if are not confident with high school level physics. Since homework is not collected, it is very easy to ignore. Make sure you understand (not memorize) the homework problems. Since his tests and quizzes are similar to homework, you will be prepared if you do it.

Erickon was a GREAT professor. Such a smart guy! I definately worked really hard in this class and did all my homework(although he doesnt collect it)and my hard work payed off. if you do the HW and study your notes you can do well in his class. he lets you have a cheet sheet for tests- 1 full side of paper for midterms and the front and back of a paper for the final. his tests come straight from homework, the examples in the textbook, and lecture notes. the 2nd midterm is harder than the first-i got an 88/100 on it but 88 is still an A in his grading system. I got 100% on the final which is 8 HW questions and five easy conceptual questions, i suprised myself with how well i did. work hard, ask questions, DO THE HOMEWORK, and you will be fine.

This guy is a fine professor. He does PLENTY of examples, and explains why they make sense. He is very clear and easy to understand. The good part of his plentiful examples is that they pretty much cover every type of problem he would put on a test. He didn't collect homework, so he went over homework, therefore I never did the homework. I did, however, redo all of the examples he did in class and that very well prepared me for the tests. I think it took just as long for me to do that as it would have taken me to do the homework though. He thinks in symbols so the sooner you start to think in symbols the better off you will be. He writes the tests so you must think his way and if you try to do it your own way, it may become difficult. I got a D on the first midterm for this reason. The one real big downside to this guy is that he is so very dry. He does no demos, no jokes, no stories. I had him at 7 am and it was very hard. Otherwise he is a pretty good guy and arguably a fair grader. Not a bad experience by any means.

He is very odd and i never really got used to him. I didn't like his teaching style but I got a B. I do not recommend him at all.

Professor Erickson was one of my favorite teachers. He said that if we did better on the final than our lowest midterm that it would replace our lowest midterm and that saved my grade in that Class. I think I got a 36 on the first midterms, 84 on the second and ended up doing pretty well on the final and getting a B in the class. His quizzes were very different from his test questions. A warning to whoever is thinking about taking his class is don't be deceived by how well you do on his quizzes because his tests questions are much different (I thought they were much harder). Do all of your homework and stay on top of everything and you will get a good grade in the class. He really does care about his students, and loves Physics which always makes the class more interesting. I think he deserves a way higher rating, I would take him again/ might if I can for Physics 132 or 133.

He isn't bad, but isn't great either. He presents information clearly, does some in-class examples, and probably would have answered questions if anybody would have asked one the entire quarter. And yes, he looks like a graying ewok, but I sorta like star wars so that's ok.

Professor Erickson really cares about his students. He would spend time working longer on a problem if a student did not understand it, which can be bad sometimes. He gives weekly quizzes which aren\'t too bad. He gives homework, but it is not required. He does give out the answers though, which is really helpful in studying. His midterms aren\'t too difficult if you study for them. For me, I had taken AP Physics in high school, so everything he taught was review for me. He gives you a page of notes for the midterms and finals, so you could put anything you want on them. if you put the right example problems, they are sometimes similar on the tests. Many of his problems are variable based, and not number based. His class was at 7 in the morning, but you get used to it. Just go to bed early.

He is retired. I was his last class. Enough said.

I would not recommend Erikson for Business Calculus. I took it Fall 2001, and it was the first time he was teaching the course. He's an engineer, not a busniness-person. He couldn't test us on some of the material because he didn't understand some of the concepts himself. He assigned homework but didn't collect it, which is horrible for a student like myself. I took the bad habit of not doing much of it to my next math class, where the homework was required, and paid dearly for it. Anyway, he's a nice guy but I don't think he really knew what he was talking about in this class. I had to hire a tutor for the first time in my life, and (thank you Cindy) somehow pulled a B by doing really well on the final, since before that I had like a D average in the class.

PROFESSOR ERICKSON WRITES PROBLEMS HARD TO UNDERSTAND. GIVES A QUIZ EVERY THURSDAY. HE DOESN'T COLLECT HOMEWORK. HE IS NICE AND WILLING TO HELP YOU OUT DURING OFFICE HOURS.

Dr. Erickson is a nice man who seems to want to help his students. He lets you have notes on the tests, and if you show up to Friday classes he gives you all sorts of neat grade bonuses. He claims that all of his test questions come from similar questions in the homework; unfortunately they are the most obscure questions, and the ones that are seemingly irrelevant to the class. It

Professor Erickson is a great teacher when he's on topic, once he gets lost, class might as well be over. He assigns homework which is not collected, but pulls the small, "unimportant" question from the homework and puts it on the test. If you question hie choice of problems, he gets mad and claims it was fair since it was a problem on the homework.

Erickson is an alright professor if you already have a little experience in calculus and you are willing to do all of the homework (which is not collected). I took a semester of calculus in high school where I learned nothing, but in Erickson's class I actually understood the concepts. His quizzes and tests don't really reflect the general concepts, but rather nit-picky little questions from the end of the homework assignments. Most of the test and quiz questions are from the homework, and a lot of them are business related questions ( as this is a business calculus class). He allows notecards on quizzes and a full sheet of notes on tests. Also, a C grade goes all the way down to 60 percent, and this helped me not stress out for the final. All in all, a decent enough guy teaching a difficult subject.

Clearly not one of the better professors at Cal Poly. First off, he's an engineer so he constantly rags on mathematicians. Secondly, he assigns problems to do for each section, but he doesn't collect them, nor does he go over any of the problems in class, even if the entire has a question regarding the same problem! This was a problem for me, because I had little motivation or reason for doing the problems. If you're one of these people, this is not the class for you. He claims that going over the problems is a waste of time and he has better things to go over in class. I never went to his office hours, but I heard from someone in my class that he sat their for 1/2 hour waiting to be seen, and his office hour is only an hour long! He has weekly quizzes based on one or two sections, and 2 midterms and a final. Good luck if you get him, you'll probably need it.

I liked Erickson as a person, he is a very nice guy. But it is a completely different story as a teacher. His tests are impossible and his lectures are not very well organized. I would not recommend him as a teacher.

Dr. Erickson is certainly not the best teacher I've had this quarter. He's actually an AERO professor, so, while he knows calculus, he's not the best teacher of the subject. Study the book and you will do well. There were a few times when students asked questions about the homework or concepts, he told them to go see him in office hours. It's not like the questions were off topic. They were regarding something he had written on the board. I couldn't believe that. Either there must have been an awful lot to cover in a short amount of time, or this teacher isn't very good. I have to admit that he's pretty good in office hours, though. I went a few times to go see him, and he was very helpful in clarifying the concepts. I'm sure there have to be other teachers out there who are better than him.

Larry Erickson is a kind of teacher who would babble on for hours on theories. He would never do any of the homework if we asked for it, and he would always say that the dep't doesn't give enough time. He is just a bs'er. All the other math professors always have time to go over homework if students needs help on it. He doesn't understand that students difficulties. When you ask him a question sometime he doesn't even answer it. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND TAKING ERICKSON FOR MATH, SINCE HE ALWAYS SAY HE'S A "NASA ENGINEER" AND NOT A MATHEMATICIAN HIS APPROACH IS NOT WHAT I WOULD CALL "INDUSTRIAL". DONT TAKE HIM!

I believe Dr Erickson is a great teacher, infact he is probably the best math teacher I've had so far. He presents all the material very well. Even though he doesnt answer any homework problems during class, he is very willing to help you out during his office hours, so make sure you make use of them. If your a math major, you'll probably won't enjoy him much, because he is always telling side jokes about mathematicians. If you are an engineer, I think you'll appreciate and even laugh at some of his jokes Another thing which I found interesting about this prof is, he is always bringing up real life examples relating to the material he is currently covering, which makes his lectures a bit more interesting.

Either Erickson is a great teacher or Calc IV is not difficult. I did so little work for this class I feel guilty about having gotten an A. He gave homework problems for all the sections, but collected none of them. We had more-or-less weekly quizzes (usually a problem from homework with numbers changed). I studied two hours for each of the two midterms and averaged 89.5%. I tried the same thing for the final, but it didn't work out as well. Chapter 17 (vector calc) is harder than partial derivatives or multiple integrals, so do the work for that so you understand it. The final was 10 problems, in the style of the midterms/quizzes. It concentrated on Chapter 17 (5 problems), since the midterms covered Chps 15 and 16 respectively. Be prepared to see drawings of airfoils every week, he's an aero engineer. I like his approach to math better because of his engineering background?.but I'm an ME, so that's no big surprise.

Simply put, Erickson was "amazing." Those of you who've had him before know what I'm talking about. He gets really excited about the material (if I knew that much about it, I'd be excited about flutter too). He'll get this big grin on his face when talking about a something that is particularly intersting to him and say those timeless words "isn't this amazing!!" It's great. You should take Erickson just to hear him say it. Erickson is a great instructor who relates very well with students. Our class only had about a dozen students in it, so by the end of the term class time was more like story time. This was a nice break from the usual daily routine of covering about 20 pages of notes that Erickson HAND WRITES and passes out in class for students to follow. The class does cover a lot of material, so make sure to get started early on the homework assignments. Working together in groups really helped too. Make sure that you explain everything you do in your homework and make it look nice and pretty too, otherwise you'll get points off.

You lazy business retards don't even know what homework is. Stop ragging on Erickson because he actually made you stay awake and do homework. He showed us one of your weak business calc tests and it was laughable. Stop bitching and study. This polyrating is for engineers who are taking an ACTUAL engineering class Look, the guy is more of a math guy than an engineer so be prepared to dig up all of your 241/242 stuff cause you are gonna need it big time. He's all about theory and not big on examples at all. The guy knows a lot and he's really into teaching you all he can. That fact by itself puts him over most Aero professors. Nice guy, hard professor.

I realize you business majors want/need stuff spelled out for you, but Erickson's strength in teaching does not lie in explicit explanations. He covers a huge amount of material VERY thoroughly, and wants to tell you more (and often does). However, the key to this class is the concepts behind his lectures and handouts. His tests are all conceptual, and pretty difficult in general, but he is a great teacher and you will be smarter at the end of his class since he does not stoop to spoon feeding you information. Lazy bums.

Erickson is a semi-crazy ex-nasa guy. He posts homework online and lots of notes for you to print out. Make sure you print all this kinda stuff out. His lectures are kinda dry, but historical approaches to aerodynamics ARE boring. Ask questions, he'll keep trying to explain it different ways. Theres a big project in class, plan ahead on that 1. He overwrites your lowest midterm score with yer final if its higher, find that in another engineering class. Tests weren't too bad, just study stuff he says will be on it. As the for the craziness, its not really bad. He just gets kinda excited in some lectures and tells long anecdotes about R.T. Jones or other nasa people. Also since he had to teach so much calculus to freshmens he can't stand talking. It is entertaining seeing him try to quiet a loud room.

BOYCOTT!!!

This class should have been titled "Forrester Johnston" because we heard so many stories about him. Good teacher, if you ever want to know anything about panel codes he is a good guy to go to as he knows the book like the back of his hand (Forrester wrote the book). He knows his stuff and have not found him to be incorrect. He does ask weird things on his tests and I find them miss leading. I did ok for myself though

If you just want an easy A and don