Mathematical Methods for Physicists

10 reviews for Mathematical Methods for Physicists

1. Ralston

   Rated 5 out of 5

   December 11, 2023

   5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent additional material to the original Arfken Text

   George Arfken’s original publication, “Mathematical Methods for Physics” is in this reviewer’s opinion, one of the most comprehensive textbooks of thi...More

   George Arfken’s original publication, “Mathematical Methods for Physics” is in this reviewer’s opinion, one of the most comprehensive textbooks of this topic and an excellent reference source for engineers and physicists. It has gone through several editions with the additional authors, first Weber and now Harris. Although I have and use Arfken’s first edition, this 7th edition has additional material and is consistent with the intent of Arfken’s original text. I recommend this text to any engineering student at the college or university level as it will assist them in their studies and provides an excellent approach to solving problems or explaining topics found in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and physics. The book will also be useful when the engineering student is confronted with problems in lecture that may not be clear in their class room text.

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   lion_1952

   Rated 5 out of 5

   October 10, 2023

   5.0 out of 5 stars Great book

   I learned these things a long time ago. I purchased it for curiosity to refresh my memory and to see what is new in the field. The book came very prom...More

   I learned these things a long time ago. I purchased it for curiosity to refresh my memory and to see what is new in the field. The book came very promptly in a perfect shape. A+++ for the seller.

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   AR Gawthrop

   Rated 5 out of 5

   June 27, 2023

   5.0 out of 5 stars A updated classic

   Used Arfken's 3rd edition text almost 40 years ago in grad school. Decided to replace my old falling apart textbook. This newer 7th edition has prelim...More

   Used Arfken's 3rd edition text almost 40 years ago in grad school. Decided to replace my old falling apart textbook. This newer 7th edition has preliminary and matrix sections in the beginning which is helpful. Like the earlier editions, the topics are in as good order as possible.

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   aikitexan

   Rated 5 out of 5

   January 4, 2023

   5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!!

   Whether you need it as a reference (tho, online works just as well) or a book to work through to learn or improve skill sets this book is great. It do...More

   Whether you need it as a reference (tho, online works just as well) or a book to work through to learn or improve skill sets this book is great. It does present some issues if you're only using it as a text as sometimes it's referring to things stated previously and you have to hunt down what the authors are talking about. I had to use this for class, but getting more use out of it as a reference that sits at my desk

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   Ricardo Avila

   Rated 5 out of 5

   February 11, 2022

   5.0 out of 5 stars My Favorite! for mathematical methods used in Physics.

   There are several books in the market that give a good overview about the mathematical methods that Physicists must learn in their undergraduate forma...More

   There are several books in the market that give a good overview about the mathematical methods that Physicists must learn in their undergraduate formation at University. Some of them are Boas "Mathematical Methods in the physical science", Cahill "Physical Mathematics", Hassani "Mathematical Physics" and of course Arfken ,Weber and Harris with "Mathematical Methods of Physics" This last one is my favorite. I must say that I have all of them but I have only gone very deep on the last two. Hassani is very terse, it covers much more than Arfken but is not an easy reading at all. That's why I recommend to every physics student Arfken, after a first chapter that touches and make contact with what one sees on the calculus courses this is infinite series, vectors, derivatives, integrals, Dirac's delta function, complex numbers and induction there follows a second chapter that reminds the reader about some of the topics that are covered in a Linear Algebra course which are matrices and determinants. The third chapter is basically a Calculus III review where all about curvilinear coordinates, transformations coordinates and the typical Integral theorems of Gauss, Stokes and Green identities are covered. Chapter four begins with new stuff for the student, with a full chapter on Tensors and Differential forms. Chapters 5 and 6 are again a Linear algebra course for vector spaces and the eigen value problem. Chapter 7 is about ordinary differential equations which usually are seen in a different a previous course just on ODEs. Chapter 8 is about Sturm Liouville theory which is new stuff for the undergraduate where you learn about self adjoint differential operators, chapter 9 deal with Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) where you learn about some of the methods to deal with this awesome subject like the separation of variable and you treat the Laplace, Poisson, Heat and Wave equations for example. Chapter 10 is about Green's functions which are the solutions to any differential equation as a response to the Dirac delta function. Chapter 11 and 12 are about complex analysis these are a MUST seen by the student for the methods of complex variable are used nearly everywhere in advanced Physics, chapter 13 introduces the Gamma Function it is HERE that I learned everything I know about the Gamma Function, its functional equation, its various representations, its zeros, poles and analytic continuation etc. Chapter 14 you have Bessel Functions, these functions are a bit terse to treat but are fundamental in Physics they not only satisfy recurrence relations but you have a whole Zoo of them, first kind second kind , modified, spherical etc. Their orthogonality is given and also various integral representations. Chapter 16 is about Angular Momentum which is vital introduction to what one sees on a Quantum Mechanics course for the solution of the Hydrogen Atom. Chapter 17 is about Group Theory, chapter 18 gives more special functions other than the Gamma and Bessel like the Chebyshev polynomials, Hermite functions, Laguerre functions and the Hypergeometric function, all off these functions pop up as different solutions of classic ODEs that appear in Physics. Chapter 19 is about Fourier Series which are a basic tool to treat PDEs, Chapter 20 is about Integral Transforms which are used as another method to solve ODEs and PDEs, The Laplace Transform for ODEs and typically The Fourier Transform for PDEs. Chapter 21 treats Integral Equations, Chapter 22 Calculus of Variations, here is presented the Euler-Lagrange equation fundamental for High energy physics and finally chapter 23 is about probability and Statistics which should be covered as usual in a separate course but these is a resume. All in all a great textbook to learn the mathematics a Physicists needs in order to acquire its undergraduate title, more important the exercises are doable and in case you are doing self study as me, you can find on the internet its solution manual with the answers to every single question and exercise, it is a delight for me, my favorite!

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   BBQ

   Rated 5 out of 5

   September 14, 2021

   5.0 out of 5 stars Good

   Good as a new

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   Daniel J Beddows

   Rated 5 out of 5

   November 26, 2019

   5.0 out of 5 stars Very clear explanations of mathematical functions and concepts

   Recommended by other students in my course as a supplementary text because of the clear manner in which concepts, mathematical formulas are explained....More

   Recommended by other students in my course as a supplementary text because of the clear manner in which concepts, mathematical formulas are explained.
   
   Haven't used this book for very long, but so far very glad purchased it, in fact wish I had it decades ago.

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   Ragib Shakil Rafi

   Rated 5 out of 5

   March 10, 2019

   5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for Engineering and Physics students

   It's an important book to get a clear and broad view on many mathematical topics that are regularly used in engineering and physics applications. Auth...More

   It's an important book to get a clear and broad view on many mathematical topics that are regularly used in engineering and physics applications. Authors did a great job to put everything in a single book and it's well written. It helped me a lot. Both Undergrad and grad students can have it.

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   John :-)

   Rated 5 out of 5

   August 30, 2017

   5.0 out of 5 stars Graduate student in physics. Studying Green's functions is slippery ...

   Graduate student in physics. Studying Green's functions is slippery. But here is a book that will allow you to trace far enough down the rabbit hole t...More

   Graduate student in physics. Studying Green's functions is slippery. But here is a book that will allow you to trace far enough down the rabbit hole to the very roots of a subject. There are enough examples for sure, and as often as possible the authors discuss information in the context of physical phenomena. Relations of Green's functions to electrostatics is made, and a brief discussion is done on the role they play in the scattering problems of quantum mechanics ie the Born Approximation. Must have. BUY IT!

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   ARMANDO FLAVIO RODRIGUES

   Rated 5 out of 5

   July 19, 2016

   5.0 out of 5 stars A classic

   7th edition of a classic, with, in the words of the authors, "a substantial and detailed revision".of the 6th edition. Specially improved by the new c...More

   7th edition of a classic, with, in the words of the authors, "a substantial and detailed revision".of the 6th edition. Specially improved by the new chapters on vector spaces, Green's functions and angular momentum, and, last but not least, the inclusion of the dilogarithm special function. The on-line material at [...] supplements the printed text. A basic technical reference for all future and present scientists and teachers.

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