This was a two-quarter overview of mathematical methods in physics at the level of Arfken, Weber, and Harris or Riley, Hobson, and Bence. Topics covered included an introduction to group theory and representations, linear algebra, Fourier series, Legendre polynomials and spherical harmonics, series solutions of partial differential equations, Bessel functions, contour integration, continuous and discrete Fourier transforms, Green's functions, basic combinatorics, probability, statistics, and tensors in curvilinear coordinates.

Most students in the class were physics graduate students simultaneously taking graduate classes in quantum mechanics and classical physics. Starting in 2020-21, the course is no longer offered, with some of the material instead incorporated into the other graduate coursework.