Mathematics for Scientists and Engineers

[arevolutionist]

Whats is your opinion on books referred as something similar to 'Mathematics for Scientists and Engineers'? Would you recommend these books for physicists over traditional mathematics textbooks.

 

[Mororvia]

In my opinion, a lot of them are pretty good if they're used as a reference if you already know a topic and you just want to brush up. They're tough to learn a topic if its new. Although, I hear the one by Boas is nice.

 

[arunma]

I agree with Mororvia here. I remember that back when I took freshman physics, our professor put a calculus handbook on the textbook list. While the professor was great in most other respects, I've got to say that this was a pretty bad idea. First of all, the book wasn't all that comprehensible to someone who hadn't already taken calculus, and secondly, it turned out that we hardly used calculus the first semester. But as has already been stated, these books are useful if you've already taken calculus, and just need a reference. Back in my junior year of high school I had a calculus handbook written by a chemical engineer (a birthday present from some friends who were aware of my affinity for math). Same story here.

Just my opinion, but I honestly don't think that the "math for scientists" books aren't all that important for physicists. I can see how a chemistry major might find it useful while taking physical chem. But for physics majors, we tend to learn most of the important math in our physics classes. Topics like partial differential equations, Fourier series, Taylor expansions, and all that other stuff are usually presented pretty well in physics classes and physics textbooks. So if you ask me, I'd say that you should save some money, and just keep your math textbooks as references.