Mathematical Methods for Physics and Engineering: A Comprehensive Guide

The third edition of this highly acclaimed undergraduate textbook is suitable for teaching all the mathematics for an undergraduate course in any of the physical sciences. As well as lucid descriptions of all the topics and many worked examples, it contains over 800 exercises. New stand-alone chapters give a systematic account of the 'special functions' of physical science, cover an extended range of practical applications of complex variables, and give an introduction to quantum operators. Further tabulations, of relevance in statistics and numerical integration, have been added. In this edition, half of the exercises are provided with hints and answers and, in a separate manual available to both students and their teachers, complete worked solutions. The remaining exercises have no hints, answers or worked solutions and can be used for unaided homework; full solutions are available to instructors on a password-protected web site, www.cambridge.org/9780521679718.

Highly acclaimed undergraduate textbook teaches all the mathematics for undergraduate courses in the physical sciences.

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A textbook for undergraduate students of science or engineering with a background in science and mathematics at the junior level in the US and A-level in Britain. It begins by showing how familiar mathematical methods can be applied to science problems, then moves into problems that require learning new methods. The second edition takes account of comments on the 1998 first. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Ken Riley read Mathematics at the University of Cambridge and proceeded to a Ph.D. there in theoretical and experimental nuclear physics. He became a Research Associate in elementary particle physics at Brookhaven, and then, having taken up a lectureship at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, continued this research at the Rutherford Laboratory and Stanford; in particular he was involved in the experimental discovery of a number of the early baryonic resonances. As well as having been Senior Tutor at Clare College, where he has taught physics and mathematics for nearly forty years, he has served on many committees concerned with teaching and examining of these subjects at all levels of tertiary and undergraduate education. He is also one of the authors of 200 Puzzling Physics Problems.

Michael Hobson read Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, specialising in theoretical physics, and remained at the Cavendish Laboratory to complete a Ph.D. in the physics of star-formation. As a Research Fellow at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and subsequently an Advanced Fellow of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, he developed an interest in cosmology, and in particular in the study of fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background. He was involved in the first detection of these fluctuations using a ground-based interferometer. He is currently a University Lecturer at the Cavendish Laboratory and his research interests include both theoretical and observational aspects of cosmology. He is also a Director of Studies in Natural Sciences at Trinity Hall and enjoys an active role in the teaching of undergraduate physics and mathematics.

Stephen Bence obtainedboth his undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences and his Ph.D. in Astrophysics from the University of Cambridge. He then became a Research Associate with a special interest in star-formation processes and the structure of star-forming regions. In particular his research has concentrated on the physics of jets and outflows from young stars. He has had considerable experience of teaching mathematics and physics to undergraduate and pre-university students.