# Feynman's Statistical Mechanics Book

1. Jun 24, 2008

### bubbloy

hello, i'm trying to learn statistical mechanics with feynman's book
he seems to have a lot of times where he thinks something is very clear and then it will take me a few pages of working things out to get what he has jumped to.
i'm having one of those moments on page 15.
i was wondering if anyone has gotten through this one, it is where he substitutes
$$Q_{\alpha}=\sum_{i}a_{i}^{\alpha}\sqrt{M_{i}}q_{i}'$$
and gets the new hamiltonian at the top of the next page, i am really at a loss how this turns the momentum operator into having the $$Q_[\alpha}$$ in the differential denominator.

more useful i guess, has anyone found an errata or explanation site for this book? i know when i read his path integrals book there was something like 1000 errors throughout the 400 or so pages and an oberlin professor kept a log of them all. he also had downloadable packets that explained the opaque sections in greater clarity.

thanks a lot,

josh S

Last edited: Jun 24, 2008