McGill.CA / Science / Department of Physics

Joint Major in Physics and Computer Science

(66 credits)

The Joint Major in Physics and Computer Science is designed to give motivated students the opportunity to combine the two fields in a way that will distinguish them from the graduates of either field by itself. The two disciplines complement each other, with physics providing an analytic problem-solving outlook and basic understanding of nature, while computer science enhances the ability to make practical and marketable applications, in addition to having its own theoretical interest. Graduates of this program may be able to present themselves as being more immediately useful than a pure physics major, but with more breadth than just a programmer. They will be able to demonstrate their combined expertise in the Special Project course which is the centrepiece of the final year of the program.

Please see the specific requirements for all Physics programs.

A program flowchart can be found here.

U1 Required Courses (21 credits)
COMP 250 (3) Introduction to Computer Science
MATH 222 (3) Calculus 3
MATH 223 (3) Linear Algebra
MATH 240 (3) Discrete Structures 1
PHYS 230 (3) Dynamics of Simple Systems
PHYS 257 (3) Experimental Methods 1
PHYS 258 (3) Experimental Methods 2
U2 Required Courses (24 credits)
COMP 206 (3) Introduction to Software Systems
COMP 251 (3) Data Structures and Algorithms
COMP 302 (3) Programming Languages and Paradigms
COMP 350 (3) Numerical Computing
MATH 314 (3) Advanced Calculus
MATH 315 (3) Differential Equations
PHYS 232 (3) Heat and Waves
PHYS 241 (3) Signal Processing
U3 Required Courses (21 credits)
COMP 360 (3) Algorithm Design Techniques
MATH 323 (3) Probability Theory
PHYS 331 (3) Topics in Classical Mechanics
PHYS 339 (3) Measurements Laboratory in General Physics
PHYS 340 (3) Majors Electricity and Magnetism
PHYS 346 (3) Majors Quantum Physics (formerly PHYS 446)
PHYS 489 (3) Special Project