This book is for physics students interested in the mathematics they use and for mathematics students interested in seeing how some of the ideas of their discipline find realization in an applied setting. The presentation tries to strike a balance between formalism and application, between abstract and concrete. The interconnections among the various topics are clarified b This book is for physics students interested in the mathematics they use and for mathematics students interested in seeing how some of the ideas of their discipline find realization in an applied setting. The presentation tries to strike a balance between formalism and application, between abstract and concrete.
Feb 06, 2012 Arfken is a very well respected book for engineers and physicists - a good discourse on things like tensors. Mathematical physics, at least to me, is things like string theory, QFT, TQFT, CQFT, and comes from an entirely different direction. The book by Hassani above bears no relation to this view of mathematical physics.
The interconnections among the various topics are clarified both by the use of vector spaces as a central unifying theme, recurring throughout the book, and by putting ideas into their historical context. Enough of the essential formalism is included to make the presentation self-contained. Intended for advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate students, this comprehensive guide should also prove useful as a refresher or reference for physicists and applied mathematicians. Over 300 worked-out examples and more than 800 problems provide valuable learning aids.
The third edition of this highly acclaimed undergraduate textbook is suitable for teaching all the mathematics for an undergraduate course in any of the physical sciences. As well as lucid descriptions of all the topics and many worked examples, it contains over 800 exercises. New stand-alone chapters give a systematic account of the 'special functions' of physical science, cover an extended range of practical applications of complex variables, and give an introduction to quantum operators. Further tabulations, of relevance in statistics and numerical integration, have been added. In this edition, half of the exercises are provided with hints and answers and, in a separate manual available to both students and their teachers, complete worked solutions.
The remaining exercises have no hints, answers or worked solutions and can be used for unaided homework; full solutions are available to instructors on a password-protected web site, www.cambridge.org/718. This text is designed for an intermediate-level, two-semester undergraduate course in mathematical physics. It provides an accessible account of most of the current, important mathematical tools required in physics these days. It is assumed that the reader has an adequate preparation in general physics and calculus. The book bridges the gap between an introductory physics course and more advanced courses in classical mechanics, electricity and magnetism, quantum mechanics, and thermal and statistical physics. The text contains a large number of worked examples to illustrate the mathematical techniques developed and to show their relevance to physics. The book is designed primarily for undergraduate physics majors, but could also be used by students in other subjects, such as engineering, astronomy and mathematics.
The mathematical methods that physical scientists need for solving substantial problems in their fields of study are set out clearly and simply in this tutorial-style textbook. Students will develop problem-solving skills through hundreds of worked examples, self-test questions and homework problems. Each chapter concludes with a summary of the main procedures and results and all assumed prior knowledge is summarized in one of the appendices.
Over 300 worked examples show how to use the techniques and around 100 self-test questions in the footnotes act as checkpoints to build student confidence. Nearly 400 end-of-chapter problems combine ideas from the chapter to reinforce the concepts. Hints and outline answers to the odd-numbered problems are given at the end of each chapter, with fully-worked solutions to these problems given in the accompanying Student Solutions Manual. Fully-worked solutions to all problems, password-protected for instructors, are available at www.cambridge.org/essential.
An engagingly-written account of mathematical tools and ideas, this book provides a graduate-level introduction to the mathematics used in research in physics. The first half of the book focuses on the traditional mathematical methods of physics – differential and integral equations, Fourier series and the calculus of variations. The second half contains an introduction to more advanced subjects, including differential geometry, topology and complex variables. The authors' exposition avoids excess rigor whilst explaining subtle but important points often glossed over in more elementary texts.
The topics are illustrated at every stage by carefully chosen examples, exercises and problems drawn from realistic physics settings. These make it useful both as a textbook in advanced courses and for self-study. Password-protected solutions to the exercises are available to instructors at www.cambridge.org/030. For physics students interested in the mathematics they use, and for math students interested in seeing how some of the ideas of their discipline find realization in an applied setting. The presentation strikes a balance between formalism and application, between abstract and concrete. The interconnections among the various topics are clarified both by the use of vector spaces as a central unifying theme, recurring throughout the book, and by putting ideas into their historical context. Enough of the essential formalism is included to make the presentation self-contained.
MarketDesc: Physicists and Engineers Students in Physics and Engineering Special Features: Covers everything from Linear Algebra, Calculus, Analysis, Probability and Statistics, to ODE, PDE, Transforms and more Emphasizes intuition and computational abilities Expands the material on DE and multiple integrals Focuses on the applied side, exploring material that is relevant to physics and engineering Explains each concept in clear, easy-to-understand steps About The Book: The book provides a comprehensive introduction to the areas of mathematical physics. It combines all the essential math concepts into one compact, clearly written reference. This book helps readers gain a solid foundation in the many areas of mathematical methods in order to achieve a basic competence in advanced physics, chemistry, and engineering. This best-selling title provides in one handy volume the essential mathematical tools and techniques used to solve problems in physics.
It is a vital addition to the bookshelf of any serious student of physics or research professional in the field. The authors have put considerable effort into revamping this new edition. Updates the leading graduate-level text in mathematical physics Provides comprehensive coverage of the mathematics necessary for advanced study in physics and engineering Focuses on problem-solving skills and offers a vast array of exercises Clearly illustrates and proves mathematical relations New in the Sixth Edition: Updated content throughout, based on users' feedback More advanced sections, including differential forms and the elegant forms of Maxwell's equations A new chapter on probability and statistics More elementary sections have been deleted. This classic book helps students learn the basics in physics by bridging the gap between mathematics and the basic fundamental laws of physics. With supplemental material such as graphs and equations, Mathematical Methods for Physics creates a strong, solid anchor of learning.
The text has three parts: Part I focuses on the use of special functions in solving the homogeneous partial differential equations of physics, and emphasizes applications to topics such as electrostatics, wave guides, and resonant cavities, vibrations of membranes, heat flow, potential flow in fluids, plane and spherical waves. Part II deals with the solution of inhomogeneous differential equations with particular emphasis on problems in electromagnetism, Green's functions for Poisson's equation, the wave equation and the diffusion equation, and the solution of integral equations by iteration, eigenfunction expansion and the Fredholm series. Finally, Part II explores complex variable techniques, including evalution of itegrals, dispersion relations, special functions in the complex plane, one-sided Fourier transforms, and Laplace transforms. Mathematical physics provides physical theories with their logical basis and the tools for drawing conclusions from hypotheses. Introduction to Mathematical Physics explains to the reader why and how mathematics is needed in the description of physical events in space.
For undergraduates in physics, it is a classroom-tested textbook on vector analysis, linear operators, Fourier series and integrals, differential equations, special functions and functions of a complex variable. Strongly correlated with core undergraduate courses on classical and quantum mechanics and electromagnetism, it helps the student master these necessary mathematical skills. It contains advanced topics of interest to graduate students on relativistic square-root spaces and nonlinear systems. It contains many tables of mathematical formulas and references to useful materials on the Internet. It includes short tutorials on basic mathematical topics to help readers refresh their mathematical knowledge.
An appendix on Mathematica encourages the reader to use computer-aided algebra to solve problems in mathematical physics. A free Instructor's Solutions Manual is available to instructors who order the book for course adoption. A clear, practical and self-contained presentation of the methods of asymptotics and perturbation theory for obtaining approximate analytical solutions to differential and difference equations. Aimed at teaching the most useful insights in approaching new problems, the text avoids special methods and tricks that only work for particular problems.
Intended for graduates and advanced undergraduates, it assumes only a limited familiarity with differential equations and complex variables. The presentation begins with a review of differential and difference equations, then develops local asymptotic methods for such equations, and explains perturbation and summation theory before concluding with an exposition of global asymptotic methods. Emphasizing applications, the discussion stresses care rather than rigor and relies on many well-chosen examples to teach readers how an applied mathematician tackles problems. There are 190 computer-generated plots and tables comparing approximate and exact solutions, over 600 problems of varying levels of difficulty, and an appendix summarizing the properties of special functions.
Physics has long been regarded as a wellspring of mathematical problems. Mathematical Methods in Physics is a self-contained presentation, driven by historic motivations, excellent examples, detailed proofs, and a focus on those parts of mathematics that are needed in more ambitious courses on quantum mechanics and classical and quantum field theory. Aimed primarily at a broad community of graduate students in mathematics, mathematical physics, physics and engineering, as well as researchers in these disciplines. Following the style of The Physics Companion and The Electronics Companion, this book is a revision aid and study guide for undergraduate students in physics and engineering. It consists of a series of one-page-per-topic descriptions of the key concepts covered in a typical first-year 'mathematics for physics' course. The emphasis is placed on relating the mathematical principles being introduced to real-life physical problems. In common with the other companions, there is strong use of figures throughout to help in understanding of the concepts under consideration.
The book will be an essential reference and revision guide, particularly for those students who do not have a strong background in mathematics when beginning their degree.