Essentials of Math Methods for Physicists

By Hans J. Weber and George B. Arfken

Essentials of Math Methods for Physicists aims to guide the student in learning the mathematical language used by physicists by leading them through worked examples and then practicing problems. The pedagogy is that of introducing concepts, designing and refining methods and practice them repeatedly in physics examples and problems. Geometric and algebraic approaches and methods are included and are more or less emphasized in a variety of settings to accommodate different learning styles of students. Comprised of 19 chapters, this book begins with an introduction to the basic concepts of vector algebra and vector analysis and their application to classical mechanics and electrodynamics. The next chapter deals with the extension of vector algebra and analysis to curved orthogonal coordinates, again with applications from classical mechanics and electrodynamics. These chapters lay the foundations for differential equations, variational calculus, and nonlinear analysisin later discussions. High school algebra of one or two linear equations is also extended to determinants and matrix solutions of general systems of linear equations, eigenvalues and eigenvectors, and linear transformations in real and complex vector spaces. The book also considers probability and statistics as well as special functions and Fourier series. Historical remarks are included that describe some physicists and mathematicians who introduced the ideas and methods that were perfected by later generations to the tools routinely used today. This monograph is intended to help undergraduate students prepare for the level of mathematics expected in more advanced undergraduate physics and engineering courses.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Academic Press
• Release date: Sep 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483225623

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Reviews for Essentials of Math Methods for Physicists

[ivanidris_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As far as I remember this book was required reading for the “Special Functions” course. You could argue that this is not a pure Physics book. However, it is certainly not a pure Mathematics book, since the examples are related to Physics problems: Vector Analysis Group Theory Infinite Series Complex Algebra Special FunctionsI think that this is an awesome book. Sometimes I just read it for fun. Seriously. I can’t understand, how people can be so negative about it. Probably they were forced to go through the material at high speed without much help from their professors. I admit that this is not a good approach, especially given the size of the book.

[billmcn_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of the textbooks for an applied mathematics course I took in the Cornell engineering school as an undergraduate. It has good discussions of coordinate systems, tensors, and group theory.