Essential Mathematical Methods for Physicists by Hans J. Weber, George B. Arfken

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Synopsis

This book is an adaptation of the authors’ classic 5^th edition Mathematical Methods for Physicists (published in 2001).  The authors have written this book in response to a need for a version of their original work that more appropriately meets the needs of today’s students while still preparing them for the level of mathematics expected in advanced courses in physics and engineering.

 It is approximately 200 pages shorter than the authors’ other book, but uses a larger page size and a two-color format to visually present the material in a more attractive manner.  Another new feature is the addition of brief biographies of famous mathematicians. There are also dozens of more drawings as well as new chapter introductions and summaries.

One of the aims of the Arfken and Weber books has always been an emphasis on problem-solving skills, and this hallmark has been even further developed by the use of more worked out examples. Most of the examples are real problems from various fields of physics A key objective is to train the student to formulate physical phenomena in mathematical language, starting from intuitive and qualitative ideas.  Concepts are introduced, mathematical solutions are introduced, many examples are presented, and finally problem sets at the end of sections offer a variety of difficulty.

Some more advanced topics have been deleted, but new material on partial differential equations, and a new chapter on probability have been added.  Finally, the last chapter on nonlinear methods and chaos has been substantially augmented.

In summary, this book is the most modern collection of mathematical principles for solving physics problems now available.  Students will find it a fine text and practicing scientists will find it an invaluable reference.

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Annotation

Audience: Juniors and Seniors in Physics, Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Chemistry and Environmental Sciences.