Griffiths QM 1st vs 2nd editions

[jtbell]

I have the first edition of Griffiths's "Introduction to Quantum Mechanics" and am considering using it (or rather the second edition) for a junior/senior level undergraduate course next spring. What makes the second edition different? I should just get a copy, I know, but I'll probably have to buy it myself. The class is going to be so small that I doubt the publisher would want to give me a freebie.

 

[George Jones]

I have the second edition, but not the first. The preface in the second edition talks about the differences between the editions, but I don't have my book at home.

The publisher's website states that differences include

"Completely rewritten chapter on the formalism of quantum mechanics — Chapter 3.

Streamlines the treatment for more effective instructor presentation and student comprehension.

Many added problems and worked examples.

Introduces students to computer-based material using Mathematica.

75 new problems and 12 new worked examples."

 

[George Jones]

From the preface to the second edition:

In preparing the second edition I have tried to retain as much as possible the spirit of the first. The only wholesale change is Chapter 3, which was much too long and diverting; it has been completely rewritten, with the background material on finite-dimensional vector spaces (a subject with which most students at this level are already comfortable) relegated to the Appendix. I have added some examples in Chapter 2 (and fixed the awkward definition of raising and lowering operators fro the harmonic oscillator). In later chapters I have made as few changes as I could, even preserving the numbering of problems and equations, where possible. The treatment is streamlined in places (a better introduction to angular momentum in Chapter 4, for instance, a simpler proof of the adiabatic theorem in Chapter 10, and a new section on partial wave phase shifts in Chapter 11). Inevitably, the second edition is a bit longer than the first, which I regret, but I hope it is cleaner and more accessible.

 

[Howers]

I think they shortened the 3rd chapter on linear algebra by a bit.