Second Year Calculus: From Celestial Mechanics to Special Relativity (Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics)

Rating:
Summary: Calculus For Physics Students
Review: Ok, for all those of you out there who always wanted to learn the math that you need to know to be able to do some really fun physics, THIS IS IT! Most introductions to "higher mathematics" tend to be rather impractical and largely useless and uninteresting topics (to the physical scientist) such as set theory or abelian group theory, but this book really delivers. The emphasis is on working out problems . . . there is some theory, but this is really meant for engineers and physicists rather than for mathematicians who are interested in theory alone. You need a very solid grounding in first year calculus before you even think of beginning this course. But once you get going, the topics that are introduced include: multiple integrals, vectors, differential forms (including tensors), and continues in this fashion until the last chapters on electromagnetics, celestial mechanics and special relativity. Now, this is not an easy book, but unlike many math texts that I have seen, it is by no means impossible to learn all own your own. Thus, if something that really interest you in the classroom is not covered, then this book would make a great supplement. It is superb for self-study and contains most of what you need to know to begin studying real physics and more advanced paractical mathematics. I can't thank Dr. Bressoud enough for writing this much-needed book! I only wish that I could give in ten stars instead of only five!