A Student's Guide to the Mathematics of Astronomy (Student's Guides) 1st Edition

A great review and worthy of ownership in one's library for those wanting a new reference that covers a lot of good material. Still reviewing mine, but I am so far very impressed at the combination of layout, detail, and yet simplicity of the coverage of these topics. Well done.Recommended highly! Thanks!

This book would be ideal for students that are about to take college physics without calculus. It's also good for students that will take it with calculus, but you will need to know calculus. It's not a terrible idea to get a good grasp of dimensional analysis prior to physics as it should be your bread and butter for mental estimates and for checking results. This book covers that extremely well and then goes into the basics of astronomy. I enjoyed the alternative approach to Newton's laws and their relationship with Kepler. The book was not exactly what I was expecting, but I learned a few things. It's more for someone that needs to review the math necessary for basic physics.

I am a "senior" self-learner. Most astrophysics textbooks are meant for a college classroom, which will have a professor to answer questions. That is not my circumstance, so the books are an awkward fit. Often the books leave out several math steps or, even more annoying, leave out the math entirely and leave it to the student "as an exercise." This book fills in those gaps. I found it to be very helpful. It shows all of the math. The one thing the book does not cover is the math for binary stars. I wish it did. I was watching a video on the topic by Prof. Winn. He is a great lecturer, but often makes leaps on math, or just leaves out details. This was particularly frustrating with eclipsing binary stars, where he left out any number of steps. For example, at one point he threw in a unit vector for r without explaining why or how it affects the math. Alas, I could not find the answer in this book either, but otherwise, it has been great.

Very basic, tightly worded narrative with applicable equations and examples. Sometimes the syntax is overly complicated, further complicating an already complicated explanation. Exercises are provided at the end of each section, but the answers are on the website rather than in the book -- not ideal. The math for essential topics in an Astronomy 1 class are covered well. For the visual learner, however, YouTube videos -- and there are many excellent ones -- will still be a good idea. I'm finding, as I review my notes, that my YouTube video notes are more extensive and helpful than my notes from the book. Still, it's a good supplemental reference, a good beginning for getting a grip on many nitty mathematical problems.

The authors do a good job of covering the fundamentals of astronomy. The crowning achievement of these authors is to bring the reader to the point where he is able to see with an earth bound telescope and understand an extra solar planet orbiting a star 10 light years away. The authors do this by chapter 4.Moving on from here many other subjects are covered including black holes and the expanding universe.Don't be fooled by the shortness of this book. It thoroughly and successfully covers everything that the introductory astronomy MIT 8.282 covers.You can't go wrong with this little book.

In chapter 1, the authors describe the mathematical basics that are needed for so many physics problems: how to form ratios, how to use scientific notation, and how to perform dimensional analysis (so answers come out in the proper units). Then, they lead you through the concepts and standard formulas for Gravity (Newton, Kepler, and a terrific overview of the property of ellipses), Light (Wavelength, Frequency, Energy, Doppler Shifts), Parallax (Angular size and resolution), Characteristics of Stars, Black Holes and Cosmology. In each case, they step through the concepts so you gain an intuitive understanding, and also walk you through each of the applicable equations, showing how each term is used.There is no calculus in the book. The book is all about the fundamental formulas, what they mean, and how to use them. The content is up to date as far as I can tell. For example, the chapter on Light explains how astronomers use radial velocity to find the wobble of stars, and then use that wobble to predict the existence of extrasolar planets.The authors have a website hosted by Wittenburg University where they have answers to the problems, as well as video podcasts of the material. The videos themselves make up an Astronomy in a Nutshell series. I love the options they provide for getting answers to the book's problems. You can either print a PDF of all the answers for a chapter, or you can display 1, 2, 3 or 4 hints while trying to work through the problem.The physical condition of the paperback edition is excellent. The publisher uses a heavy glossy cover, well-built spine, and thick pages. No skimping on production quality. It's the same high quality used for the author's paperback edition of A Student's Guide to Maxwell's Equations.All in all - beautifully done. The authors of this book obviously have a true desire to impart knowledge, and to do so with class and quality. I'm very grateful.