Product Description

This best-selling title provides in one handy volume the essential mathematical tools and techniques used to solve problems in physics. It is a vital addition to the bookshelf of any serious student of physics or research professional in the field. The authors have put considerable effort into revamping this new edition.

* Updates the leading graduate-level text in mathematical physics
* Provides comprehensive coverage of the mathematics necessary for advanced study in physics and engineering
* Focuses on problem-solving skills and offers a vast array of exercises
* Clearly illustrates and proves mathematical relations

New in the Sixth Edition:
* Updated content throughout, based on users' feedback
* More advanced sections, including differential forms and the elegant forms of Maxwell's equations
* A new chapter on probability and statistics
* More elementary sections have been deleted

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50695 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 1200 pages

Review
"As to a comparison with other books of the same ilk, well, in all honesty, there are none. No other text on methods of mathematical physics is as comprehensive and as complete..."
-Tristan Hubsch, Howard University

Customer Reviews

Very useful, but you need time to study it properly
I'm a first year Physics Student, and I used this book for my Mathematical Physics course. I regret only buying it halfway through. Before that I was forced to rely on Boas, and that was not enough!
Arfken really helped if only by presenting a different approach. It's always better to see through two eyes than through only one. I really regret buying it so late, because thanks to that I could only use it in that function (a second viewpoint).
Now that the prelims are over, though, I will try to delve a bit deeper into it all and, maybe, finally get to grips with the terrible Legendre Polynomials and his Hermitian acolytes...

Great for self-teaching. Arfken uses the Socratic method.
I am an M.S. in physics and use the book for reference and filling in the gaps in my knowledge. In each section, Arfken teaches the bare essentials and then asks the student to work out the rest of the body of knowledge in the exercises. Each new theorem or principle is clearly developed in small learnable steps, and the student has the feeling of Developing Physics, instead of just learning about it. Most exercises are of the type "Prove that statement (or equation) X to be true", so the student doesn't have to worry too much about numerical answers. Each exercise or topic is carefully built on the foundation of what went before. When finished, I *really understand* the deeper issues of the topic.

Dr. Arfken's perspectives on the subject matter also open up entire new worlds to explore. Many times, at the end of an exercise, I realized I had just proven a statement of which I had always wanted to see the proof. There is a strong Aha! content to the entire book.

Necessary book for every physics student
I'm a physical engineering student, using this book (the 5th edition) for my Mathematical Methods of Physics course.
Its look and paper quality are perfect, they made it much smaller and a bit easier than the former editions (so it's easier to handle this 1112 pages giant).
But what's really important is the inside. I found its mathematics quite understandable and easy to follow, but of course it requires a good understanding in mathematical analysis first. I believe that it contains basically everything for an undergraduate physics student and even after it can be useful as a research professional.
The only thing missing from it compared to Boas is the probability calculus, but it has much more stuff what the Boas doesn't have.
In every new theory there's the physical connection, which makes it very easy to put the new knowledge to its right place. There are also problems to solve after every part. These problems are well chosen, the only problem I found that there are no solutions in many of cases.
Conclusion: it's not a cheap book, but it contains practically everything to understand even the relatively complicated mathematics of the modern physics in an undergraduate course.

Contents

Vector Analysis
Curved Coordinates, Tensors
Determinants and Matrices
Group Theory
Infinite Series
Functions of a Complex variable I & II
Differential Equations
Sturm-Liouville Theory
Gamma-Factorial Function
Bessel Functions
Legendre Functions
Special Functions
Fourier Series
Integral Transforms
Integral Equations
Calculus of Variations
Nonlinear Method and Chaos