Mathematics for Physics

...for the applied scientist. As well as the more traditional methods of mathematical physics, this book covers signal processing, estimation & statistics, and graph theory, all of which are really useful to the applied physicist / scientist / engineer.All the techniques are very well-explained and can be used immediately.A great book and excellent VFM.David Leng

From reading this book, it is clear that the authors intended to explain and introduce Mathematical concepts. They use physics to provide grounding on the overly abstract, yet the do not list question after question and provide solutions. There are some exercises (with answers). If the student is looking for something directly, unequivocally applicable to most problems they will face this is not the book.However, if one actually takes the time to read a chapter and follow through the arguments the entire concept is illuminated. This book provides understanding and explanation of the mathematical tools and that it does very well. Physics problems should be sort in physics books.The other reviews of this book seem to be seeking some hammer than can be used blindly to all problems whereas this book requires more than a skim read to use properly.

The book is nicely written and the examples are well chosen to apply a given mathematical concept to physics. However, the book has tried to cover too much and therefore spends too little time on a given topic before moving on. This means that it's hard to use to gain a deep appreciation of a subject.

I've only borrowed this book from the library to fill in some gaps in my knowledge, however on looking at other chapters I keep thinking that this book has quite a natural and easy flowing style. Concepts are introduced and explained clearly with good worked examples. There are plenty of questions with decent solutions for most.I would say that it is primarily a physics book - duh! Signal processing is given three chapters. But there are gems in it for mathematical orientated people. I've found a few explanations that have made me go 'ah'. Also a few different approaches here and there that I thought were neat and very enlightening. Complex numbers, partial diff, amongst others.When stuck, I always find it helpful to refer to other sources to see their approach. For basic maths, as it says, it is intended for first and second year, I'd say it's not bad.I'd also say that it's a good review/refresher of applied math techniques - handy for a reference.I bought Riley's book - it is good, but it's heavy - too heavy in parts, but it covers much more material. This book gains an upper hand in some of the authors' comments about various topics - I feel that the comments give great pointers, warnings, limitations, etc. It reads like a lecture; there's a personal element. Riley is devoid of this.I'm using this book for an intro to quantum mechanics and have to say that on the whole it is suiting me with its style. The font is nice and easy to read, plenty of gaps for margin notes.As I say, it's a good reference book and possibly would be a handy book to have for a different point of view or a different perspective. It also provides many programs for math development/analysis of problems and possibly computer programming?I wrote this review in response to the A grade student who should have bought veg. I've yet to find a book that covers everything to your satisfaction - just look at the reviews for Boas, Riley, etc. The veg person provides no reasoning for criticising the book. That says a lot to me.I'd give the book 3.5 stars; I'd like to see more rigour but then it is a book for physicists. Maths is hard and it gets harder. Why would anybody like a book that gets harder?I would be surprised if this book is not required reading for some courses.So, for an alternative take on the hard stuff, it's good and a breath of fresh air.

I was looking for resource material on how planets retain atmospheres to pass onto a particularly inquisitive A-Level student, when I happened onto this title.Sure enough, the section titled "Retention of a planetary atmosphere" explained just how important the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution is in the ability of a planet to retain it's atmosphere. This was soon extended to discuss why the moon would gradually loose any atmosphere it possessed.Impressed with that section, I proceeded to review the whole title.As a title to suggest to A-Level students, it is clearly beyond the scope of all A-Level curricula and is more suited to first or second year undergraduates. With that in mind, I continued through the book, looking for sections that I could utilise to support my own teaching.There are interesting and well written sections on; signal, noise and digital filtering; least squares and data fitting; and homogeneity - each of which would be suitable to use as resource material for more able A-Level students.Clearly the book is aimed at undergraduate students, covering as it does, just about everything that would be taught on most University courses. It is this breadth of coverage that ultimately lets the title down. It just feels "too comprehensive" - if that's at all possible. At nearly 800 pages it covers a wealth of subject matter, but each individual topic can feel slightly under explored. For example, the Schrödinger wave equation is derived and explained in just 2 pages. I can imagine students either feeling relieved that such a pivotal concept has been distilled down or frustrated that the wider consequences have not been explored.I left this title, feeling that it might have been better to split it into two volumes; "Volume 1 - Mathematical Techniques for Physics" and "Volume 2 - Mathematics of Classical Physics Problems"