Product Description

Many students beginning their engineering, science and mathematics courses need a book on mathematical methods. This textbook offers an accessible and comprehensive grounding in many of the mathematical techniques required in the early stages of an engineering or science degree, and also for the routine methods needed by first and second year mathematics students. Mathematical Techniques starts by revising work from pre-university level before developing the more advanced material which students will encounter during their undergraduate studies. The contents of the book has been fully revised for this, the third edition. The first chapter on standard techniques, has been rewritten and expanded to serve the increasingly diverse needs of students. The Fourier transform now has its own chapter; a simplified approach is adopted, and diffraction theory, together with supporting material on wave motion, is included. Many changes enhancing clarity have been made in other chapters. The chapter on projects using Mathematica has been extended to cover these changes: the associated programs are freely available on Keele University, Mathematics Department web site: www.keele.ac.uk/depts/ma/ . Chapters and sections are designed to be largely self-contained, allowing students ot concentrate on the specific methods they need to master and use. The book contains nearly 500 worked examples, more than 2000 problems (with selected answers), and over 120 computing projects. The text is accessible, widely illustrated, and stands as an ideal introduction on mathematical methods at university level.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #214601 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 880 pages

About the Author
Dominic Jordan and Peter Smith are members of the Mathematics Department at Keele University. They both have long experience of teaching this material, at many different levels, and to a wide variety of students.

Customer Reviews

What can I say?
Wow, I've found my new bible!!! After failing my first maths module at uni, (D'OH!!!) I decided that I needed a new maths textbook to help me. After much searching, I found this comprehensive, and yes enjoyable read. It covers all of the topics in my course, and in such a way that I'm not baffeled, by technical language or jargon. Back to basics you could say, but not in a patronising way. A must for all first years taking physics.

A very useful book
This one text covered all of the maths involved in my first year physics degree course, including my optional statistics module, and some error analysis.

The contents and index are detailed, the introductions at the beginning of each chapter are easy to read and understand - for those of us who don't appreciate awkward sentences interspersed with unnecessary jargon and equations, that will neither be remembered nor understood (and don't need to be). I have also found the summary boxes particularly useful when revising for exams or checking things i should know when doing questions.

Overall i was very impressed with this book, much less dry than most of the competition, and not something i will be selling before i finish my degree.

one of the best around
Good comprehensive coverage of most things you'll need in 1st and 2nd year sci/tech courses in top end British Uni's. However it lacks the rigorous formality of the more hardcore texts for Math degrees but will serve you well for engineering and physics related stuff (like it says on the cover).

It's useful to note that this book won't guide you through the concepts and problems in an 'idiot's guide' step-by-step fashion. It's written under the assumption that you've done some A-Level + maths for a while and have had some experiencing in muddling through things on your own. Moreover, much of the format is laid out in a summary type fashion with breif intros and a few examples culminating in a lucid statement of concepts. This approach is usefull especially after you've waded through heavy class notes and are gagging for something concise that puts the stuff in a nutshell....much needed clarity, like finally seeing through the smoke.

The exercise problems are tough, ball breakingly hard in fact! Often leaping beyond the seemingly easy illustrations of the examples. You'll need help from other resources to get through them. Maybe this is deliberate as it get's you desperately banging your head against the wall and /if when you finally get the method right - you won't make the same mistake again.

keep this book after you're done, it'll serve as a good reference thing as well.