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· 943 ratings · 40 reviews

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Feb 26, 2011 Robert rated it liked it

This was the recommended text for maths for my physics first Degree, as, it transpires, it is for many, many physics undergrads.

I didn't use it enough then but when I did I found it difficult. It felt like it didn't explain enough - which looking back means didn't have enough worked examples. It also covers an enormous amount of terrain for a single volume.

Now, I find it more useful - as a reference work. It probably isn't the best book for introducing the more advanced topics - they need whole

This was the recommended text for maths for my physics first Degree, as, it transpires, it is for many, many physics undergrads.

Now, I find it more useful - as a reference work. It probably isn't the best book for introducing the more advanced topics - they need whole books each - but for reminding oneself of forgotten but once understood topics? It can do that job.

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This is a really solid review/overview of math for sciences, particularly physics (or engineering.) Basically, if you are a sophomore or junior undergraduate, this is all the math you have probably already (supposedly) learned, in a somewhat condensed form. If you have never done e.g. multiple integrals, Fourier series or transforms, or differential equations, this is probably not the book for you. I think it would be really hard to learn all those things, from the ground up, from this book. If, This is a really solid review/overview of math for sciences, particularly physics (or engineering.) Basically, if you are a sophomore or junior undergraduate, this is all the math you have probably already (supposedly) learned, in a somewhat condensed form. If you have never done e.g. multiple integrals, Fourier series or transforms, or differential equations, this is probably not the book for you. I think it would be really hard to learn all those things, from the ground up, from this book. If, however, you have been through a set of calculus courses up through mutlivariable and differential eqs, then this is a great book precisely because it gives only quick quick coverage to theory and to basic breadth, and instead focuses on applying all that math you have been learning to prepare you to move through e.g. junior and senior level physics courses.

I give four stars because there are places where I did feel additional explanation -or additional worked examples- would be helpful. Like many books, it includes harder problems towards the end of each section: a few more worked examples of this relative complexity would make this a five star book. My two cents, anyway.

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Mar 27, 2021 Livresque rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Physics Undergraduates

Recommended to Livresque by: College

Well, this was my undergraduate text book on Mathematical Physics along with others. For fundamental understanding at the beginning, this is a great book to go by. Explanations and worked out examples are quite good. Although I would surely want more of those than they are.

Sep 29, 2008 DJ rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: any engineer or physicist

Recommended to DJ by: David J. Griffiths

Mathematical methods courses have traditionally been the battleground upon which engineers and physicists perish in a frustrating struggle against black-boxed equations and their dying, depressed crypt-keepers known as applied math professors. In the realm of mathematical methods book for engineers and physicists, however, this is the "one book to rule them all". After painfully attempting two or three others, I finally discovered this stellar work on a recommendation from Griffiths' Electrodyna Mathematical methods courses have traditionally been the battleground upon which engineers and physicists perish in a frustrating struggle against black-boxed equations and their dying, depressed crypt-keepers known as applied math professors. In the realm of mathematical methods book for engineers and physicists, however, this is the "one book to rule them all". After painfully attempting two or three others, I finally discovered this stellar work on a recommendation from Griffiths' Electrodynamics.

Like Griffiths, Boas anticipates each confusing element of a concept and is sure to point out easy traps before its too late and you're panicking in your final because all your Fourier coefficients are zero. There is much more here than usually covered in a single mathematical methods course and that supplementary material will come in handy in the coming years as each of you progress from baby engineers and scientists to fully fledged Edisons and Einsteins.

This book conveys the joys and wonders of mathematics in a clear and precise way to those who need it just so the most: engineers and physicists.

This book will remain in my inventory for the long journey ahead and I look forward to all the chances I'll get in the future to consult her.

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Forgot to close this book, used this as part of my TA duty for mathematical physics class in Spring 2019.

To be honest, I never took such a course before in my life, so having this course as teaching duty was nice. In fact, I think I never understood the subtleties behind Fourier cosine/sine transform and the usual Fourier transform (I could not remember now but when I taught it as a course I did understand it), so it was also personally enlightening.

I really like this book for its explicit exam

Forgot to close this book, used this as part of my TA duty for mathematical physics class in Spring 2019.

I really like this book for its explicit examples and clarity. Note that one should not expect "proofs" out of this book, this is more like a handbook for performing computations. Depending on what you mean by proofs, every chapter in this book could easily take another book to make rigorous. In that sense I won't be asking too much. I would not see any reason to give any rating less than 5; it's comprehensive topic-wise and serves its purpose.

I should note that if someone were to look for similar but slightly more advanced text, there's another one by Arfken/Weber. I think Boas is friendly for someone as early as first or second year of undergraduates; Arfken/Weber probably could last longer, even towards graduate school.

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This was the recommended text for the core mathematics modules when I was an undergraduate at Warwick. Back then it was quite tough but still very useful as a reference. Recently I read it cover to cover and it really is one of the most enjoyable books I've read. Since it's essentially applied mathematics it doesn't get weighed down by the burden of proofs and so you simply get the beauty of the mathematics itself. The scope of this book is huge and it serves as an excellent primer to university This was the recommended text for the core mathematics modules when I was an undergraduate at Warwick. Back then it was quite tough but still very useful as a reference. Recently I read it cover to cover and it really is one of the most enjoyable books I've read. Since it's essentially applied mathematics it doesn't get weighed down by the burden of proofs and so you simply get the beauty of the mathematics itself. The scope of this book is huge and it serves as an excellent primer to university mathematics, albeit rather lacking in proofs. ...more

My beloved. One of the greatest books, if not the greatest, to learn mathematical tools for physics students.

Aug 23, 2017 Maghfira Aulia rated it really liked it

Kentang, membaca buku ini harus punya motivasi di setiap lembarnya. Enam bulan membaca hanya sanggup sampai Legendre Polynomials, dan akhirnya say goodbye pada 6 bab lainnya. Tida mengerti kenapa dosen berkata ketika dia pusing dia akan membaca buku ini T.T pusing ya lebi ena tidur Pak T.T

Having read and practiced all the subjects covered by this book, I have to say that an astonishing amount of mathematics can be learned from this excellent piece. The physical applications of the methods are quite enlightning, making physical insight sprout from the dedicated student and intertwining it with the beautiful mathematical foundations on which it is built.

The reader should, however, be skilled in calculus, basic proof methods and have a decent basic physics background (knowledge in c

The reader should, however, be skilled in calculus, basic proof methods and have a decent basic physics background (knowledge in classical mechanics, electromagnetism, thermodynamics and even quantum mechanics will be valuable).

A mathematician may cringe at the lack of mathematical rigor and abandon the book in search of a more advanced book on mathematical physics; this will, almost certainly, make him miss the obvious point of the book - to build intuition for the mathematics that underlies physics. This intuition cannot be built by mathematical rigor, but only by diligent practice, curiosity and thought into these physical meaning of the mathematics.

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Oct 14, 2007 Jurvis rated it it was amazing

This was my bible for mastering applied mathematics. It's well-worn pages are now held together with duct tape on my shelf. Boas has a knack for creating illuminating problem sets to round out her succinct explanations. This is a good thing for dense youngsters (like myself) who don't get it as she makes it look so simple throughout each chapter. If you need a less direct lesson, turn elsewhere. This was my bible for mastering applied mathematics. It's well-worn pages are now held together with duct tape on my shelf. Boas has a knack for creating illuminating problem sets to round out her succinct explanations. This is a good thing for dense youngsters (like myself) who don't get it as she makes it look so simple throughout each chapter. If you need a less direct lesson, turn elsewhere. ...more

Absolutely crucial for gaining a solid understanding of the fundamental math techniques required to earn a physics/engineering degree. Even after graduation I find myself intrigued by this book, reaching for it whenever I think I could brush-up my math skills a bit.

Apr 03, 2012 Hary Mulyadi rated it it was amazing

Great Book!. Comprehensive mater contents. It describe from simple calculus to the math for quantum and analytic physics.

Though this book has concise coverage on major portions of Mathematical Methods, it lacks depth and most derivations and proofs have been done in weird, discontinuous and too-much-reference manner. Most derivations and proofs have been done in shortcuts and most theories have been explained with crooked examples which will make you more confused.

Jan 11, 2019 Heather rated it it was amazing

I have nothing but love for this book. I have retrieved it several times since it was needed for studying for practical applications in research and analysis. The examples are excellent and well explained!

Apr 19, 2020 Arman Behrad rated it really liked it

I will definitely consider this huge piece of mathematics as my future reference.
Two first season was amazing, but I felt rigidity in ordinary and partial differential equation chapters.
Maybe a little more intuitive explanation of 'Transforms' would be more comprehensive.

In general it is a good book. However, could be much better if it had more examples and exercises. Some of its concepts are really hard to digest as they are briefly explained e.g Special Functions. Still waiting for the day for someone to write a math book that could everyone understand easily.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. good books

Unclear steps. Giving confusing ways to solve the problems.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I used this book for my mathematical methods in the physical sciences courses as an SDSU chemical physics undergraduate student. Due to time constrains in the class I have not actually gone through each chapter, but I have read the sections on the fourier transform, linear algebra, some parts of sequences and series, complex numbers (through the section on hyperbolic functions, partial differentiation, fourier series and transforms, ordinary differential equations, stirling's formula, the gamma I used this book for my mathematical methods in the physical sciences courses as an SDSU chemical physics undergraduate student. Due to time constrains in the class I have not actually gone through each chapter, but I have read the sections on the fourier transform, linear algebra, some parts of sequences and series, complex numbers (through the section on hyperbolic functions, partial differentiation, fourier series and transforms, ordinary differential equations, stirling's formula, the gamma function, the factorial function (from section 11 on special functions), sections of part 12 assosciated with Bessel, hermite, legendre, and laguerre functions, and partial differentiation. My class was focused on practical problem solving and creative and appropriate applicaiton of the material within the Boas book via problems (supplied by Boas, but also by the instructor and related to his research in mathematics as applied to bacteria and phages).

I am currently reading through this book again and working through most problem sets in order to learn the material not covered in my courses and to brush up on and improve my mathematics skills. As such, I will continually revisit this review and add details.

General review:
This is very much an applied mathematics book. It's strengths lie in it's brief and intuitive explanations as well as some of it's problem sets. It also works well as a quick reference. The mathatical connections between many branches of physics are clearly demonstrated in the problem sets , and an intuitive understanding is developed, along with a clear mindset for tackling problems. However, Boas does not always go into enough mathematical detail, because the focus is practical. Consequently it can be helpful to supplement this with books associated with pure mathematics. Additionally, the solutions to Boas chapter problems are very brief (and don't exist for all problems).

Chapter 1 section 1 (in my notation this is Section [1.1]):
The geometric series is introduced as a series of the form a+ar+ar^2+ar^3+...ar_(n-1) and the sum of the formula for the sum of the first n terms is presented, being left to problem 1.1.2 to derive. The problem 1.1.2 is very easy, and a "hint" is provided which makes it even easier. Next, the limit is taken as n goes to infinity, and the final equation for the sum is presented.

Problems: [1.2] Sn-rSn is computed and the equation solved for Sn in order to get the sum of the first n terms of a geometric series.

[1.3-1.11] These problems are all very similar. They involve using the equation for the infinite sum of a geometric series (S=a/(1-r)) to translate a repeating decimal expansion into a fraction. Once you have done one or two of these problems it is very clear.

[1.1.12] This just reviews the ideas of limits and series through a practical example involving water purification. It's an easy problem, but it is fun to know that if 1/2 of an impurity is removed at each stage of a process the impurity can be completely removed with enough stages.

[1.1.13] This is a practical example of the geometric series involving compound interest.

[1.1.15] The excluded area of a serpenski gasket is calculated! It was great that the book included a solution here (although with no description), because I accidentally obtained an answer other than 1 (no triangle left), and this was because I neglected the fact that at all (not just the second) iteration, there are three remaining traingles to break into peices, and so r, as defined in the geometric series, is 3/4.

[1.1.16] ---Current problem as of 5/23/2021
Something bounces back and forth between two walls and r is reflected while (1-r) passes through on both sides. You are asked to get the infinite series/sum assosciated with leaving the first wall you arive at and the second wall you arrive at, as well as the sum of the two sums.
At the end you are asked about the largest fraction of particles which can escape at the second wall, and I haven't found the solution to this part yet. I tried taking a first derivative with respect to r, the fraction, but found that the resulting function contained no 0, and of course r=1 would not work , because then nothing would ever leave the system. At this moment I think 50 percent may be the maximum that can escape the second wall, but I really should know for sure.

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Jul 07, 2016 Adam Lantos rated it it was amazing

I was astonished about how good the examples are and about how much insight the author gives the reader! Pretty good book.
The only downside is that it does not prove important things sometimes. For example, the similarity of matrices relation is only "proven" through an example. Also, I found that at some point, the authors could explain things in more words to make them a bit clearer and more intuitive, although they do clarify everything through examples; I guess this is their way of explainin I was astonished about how good the examples are and about how much insight the author gives the reader! Pretty good book.
The only downside is that it does not prove important things sometimes. For example, the similarity of matrices relation is only "proven" through an example. Also, I found that at some point, the authors could explain things in more words to make them a bit clearer and more intuitive, although they do clarify everything through examples; I guess this is their way of explaining something and it gets the job done for most cases at the end of the day.
As far as great examples are concerned, this is the king. But for anybody-like me-wanting proofs and more mathematical insights (not only physical as this book provides in spades) I would also check out other books (like, say, one of Hassani's books).
Lastly, it must be noted that it contains A LOT of exercises, which is always a good thing. ...more

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. All text books are sort of terrible. As much as I love to read, I can NOT learn from reading a book on the subject. I would read the chapters before class, understand nothing, then have the professor explain it in class where I would understand it much better. This book was best for looking back after class for things I had forgot about lecture- it was a way to remind me what he had talked about.

I did not do any of the example problems from this book- the professor provided a separate sheet of

All text books are sort of terrible. As much as I love to read, I can NOT learn from reading a book on the subject. I would read the chapters before class, understand nothing, then have the professor explain it in class where I would understand it much better. This book was best for looking back after class for things I had forgot about lecture- it was a way to remind me what he had talked about.

I did not do any of the example problems from this book- the professor provided a separate sheet of homework problems that I liked doing much more than those in this book.

Overall I thought that the class itself did not do much that Calculus and linear algebra classes had not. It would have made more sense just to require linear algebra than to make an entirely separate class that did practically the same thing..

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Feb 15, 2016 Nemo rated it really liked it

Recommended to Nemo by: Gerard 't Hooft

Found in the Prof Gerard 't Hooft's link list How to become a good theoretical physicist

A very clear and instructive introduction to the most common mathematical concepts that will appear in physics and applied mathematics.

Every chapter of the book cover a topic that probably needs a whole book- or course- to be fully appreciated, but what you can find here is enough for further studies in graduate physics.

The only negative aspect that come to mind is that I found a bit dry some of the exampl

Found in the Prof Gerard 't Hooft's link list How to become a good theoretical physicist

A very clear and instructive introduction to the most common mathematical concepts that will appear in physics and applied mathematics.

Every chapter of the book cover a topic that probably needs a whole book- or course- to be fully appreciated, but what you can find here is enough for further studies in graduate physics.

The only negative aspect that come to mind is that I found a bit dry some of the examples and applications in the exercises.
Instead a was surprised to see that the author proved most of the "fundamental" theorems.

Probably the best use for this textbook is as reference but it gives a good intro to most undergrad mathematics 4 stars

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Still my favorite math text ever. I've stop consulting this book only because I know all the material at this point. Boas has a talent for explaining math simply that I've rarely found anywhere else. If you're an undergrad learning physics or calculus for the first time, use this text instead of whatever they've assigned you. Still my favorite math text ever. I've stop consulting this book only because I know all the material at this point. Boas has a talent for explaining math simply that I've rarely found anywhere else. If you're an undergrad learning physics or calculus for the first time, use this text instead of whatever they've assigned you. ...more