Aerodynamics — Prerequisites
What to Know Before Starting This Guide
This page explains where lift and drag physically come from and how to compute them — the prerequisites are the math and physics tools that make those equations usable, not prior aerodynamics knowledge itself.
Required (Must Have)
1. Aerospace Foundations, Completed
•Vectors and F = ma — Overview's Newton's Third Law explanation of lift assumes you're already comfortable applying Newton's laws to a physical system, not learning them for the first time here
•The four forces of flight (lift, drag, thrust, weight) as a balance to satisfy — this technology explains two of those four in depth
2. Basic Algebra and Trigonometry
•Comfortable rearranging an equation like L = ½ρV²S·CL to solve for a different variable (used throughout Overview and the Try It exercises)
•Degrees vs. radians, and converting between them — angle of attack and Mach-regime boundaries are given in degrees throughout this guide, but some formulas in Intermediate and Advanced (thin airfoil theory, in particular) require radians
3. Comfort Reading Formulas With Multiple Variables
•The lift and drag equations each combine four variables (ρ, V, S, and a coefficient) — being able to track which variable changed and predict the directional effect on the result (without necessarily computing the exact number) is assumed baseline comfort
Nice to Have (Speeds Up Learning)
Basic Calculus (Derivatives)
Intermediate's L/D-max derivation and Advanced's compressibility corrections are easier to follow with basic derivative intuition (rate of change, finding a maximum), though the guide walks through the key results without requiring you to perform the calculus yourself.
Any Programming/Scripting Experience
Installation sets up a Python-based workflow for computing and plotting lift/drag curves — prior exposure to any scripting language (not necessarily Python) makes that section faster, though the guide's Python is written to be readable without deep programming background.
Prior Exposure to Fluid Concepts (Density, Pressure, Viscosity)
Not required — Overview and Fundamentals introduce air density, dynamic pressure, and viscosity from scratch — but any prior physics or chemistry exposure to these concepts (even at a high-school level) makes the material land faster.
What You Do NOT Need
•Prior XFOIL, OpenFOAM, or any CFD software experience — Installation introduces these tools from zero, and most of this guide's own worked examples use closed-form equations you can compute by hand or with a basic calculator, not simulation software
•Compressible-flow or shockwave background — Fundamentals and Advanced build this up from the Mach number definition forward
•Aircraft design experience — this guide teaches the physics that underlies aircraft design, not the design process itself (covered more directly in Flight Mechanics & Aircraft Structures)
Time Estimate
If you have the prerequisites above:
•Overview + Fundamentals: 1-2 days
•Intermediate + Advanced: 2-3 days
•Interview-ready (comfortable deriving why V² dominates the lift equation and explaining transonic drag rise from first principles): 1 week
Start Here
Go to the Installation section to set up a Python environment for computing and plotting lift/drag curves, then work through Overview's lift-computation example yourself rather than only reading it.
