- #1
Cygnus_A
- 34
- 2
I'm looking for a comprehensive mathematical physics book for self-study.
My ideal book would have some of these qualities:
- lots of applications, examples, problems and solutions (or available solutions)
- not focused on rigor
- interesting to read (maybe with some history too?)
- ideally it would prep me for jumping right into reading recent publications
- good for reference
And it would have some of these subjects:
- vector calculus, integration techniques (and/or other relevant calculus)
- complex analysis, conformal mappings, sums, series and sequences
- linear algebra, eigenvalues/vectors, rotations, tensors
- Fourier Analysis, Laplace Transforms
- linear and partial differential equations, Sturm-Liouville theory, Green's functions
- nonlinear dynamics, chaos, numerical methods, graph theory
- prob/stats, bayes stats and other useful stats (like markov chains, regression, etc)
- topology, differential geometry, group theory, renormalization and other advanced topics
Obviously that's a lot of material; it's not listed in any order of importance.
Does anybody have any suggestions?
The book I'm looking at right now is Mathematical Techniques by Jordan and Smith. It has quite a few of these subjects, but I want some better opinions. And if I didn't mention any particular positive aspect of a book for self-study (or an important modern subject), feel free to add your input. Also, I'm at the beginning half of grad school, if it makes a difference.
My ideal book would have some of these qualities:
- lots of applications, examples, problems and solutions (or available solutions)
- not focused on rigor
- interesting to read (maybe with some history too?)
- ideally it would prep me for jumping right into reading recent publications
- good for reference
And it would have some of these subjects:
- vector calculus, integration techniques (and/or other relevant calculus)
- complex analysis, conformal mappings, sums, series and sequences
- linear algebra, eigenvalues/vectors, rotations, tensors
- Fourier Analysis, Laplace Transforms
- linear and partial differential equations, Sturm-Liouville theory, Green's functions
- nonlinear dynamics, chaos, numerical methods, graph theory
- prob/stats, bayes stats and other useful stats (like markov chains, regression, etc)
- topology, differential geometry, group theory, renormalization and other advanced topics
Obviously that's a lot of material; it's not listed in any order of importance.
Does anybody have any suggestions?
The book I'm looking at right now is Mathematical Techniques by Jordan and Smith. It has quite a few of these subjects, but I want some better opinions. And if I didn't mention any particular positive aspect of a book for self-study (or an important modern subject), feel free to add your input. Also, I'm at the beginning half of grad school, if it makes a difference.