What are some recommended textbooks for introductory Electrodynamics?

[Stratosphere]

I'm looking to get a book on introductory Electrodynamics. I've already seen recommendations for This one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/013805326X/?tag=pfamazon01-20 But it seems really expensive. Are there any other good books for ED? Also, does intro ED require linear algebra?

 

[Phyisab****]

Griffith's is one of the best textbooks I've used, (except for the treatment of laplace's equation which killed me when I was a sophomore without a little bit of outside knowledge of the most basic of PDE's), maybe you could find it in a library. No it doesn't require linear algebra.

 

[Stratosphere]

Griffith's is one of the best textbooks I've used, (except for the treatment of laplace's equation which killed me when I was a sophomore without a little bit of outside knowledge of the most basic of PDE's), maybe you could find it in a library. No it doesn't require linear algebra.

I'm almost done with calculus 3, do you think I'll be fine if I jump right into it after finishing calculus?

 

[Phyisab****]

Yea I'd say that's the standard prep. I guess you should probably have some brief knowledge of ODE's. Like I said I got killed in chapter 3. My prof could not understand at all what my problem was so that didn't help. Reading the first chapter in any intro to PDE's book would have made my life so much easier. But I'd say just dive in and if find a certain part the be very difficult maybe there's a reason why .

 

[Stratosphere]

Yea I'd say that's the standard prep. I guess you should probably have some brief knowledge of ODE's. Like I said I got killed in chapter 3. My prof could not understand at all what my problem was so that didn't help. Reading the first chapter in any intro to PDE's book would have made my life so much easier. But I'd say just dive in and if find a certain part the be very difficult maybe there's a reason why .

Should I have any background knowledge of other physics such as mechanics or anything?

 

[Phyisab****]

Yes you should have a 2-3 semester intro physics sequence preferably.

 

[dark_raider]

You could look for the paperback edition of the book you mentioned which is half prize.

 

[CFDFEAGURU]

Here is a freely distributed book that is written on an advanced level.

http://www.plasma.uu.se/CED/Book/

Hope that helps.

Thanks
Matt

 

[Stratosphere]

So it looks like I'm going for the soft cover Griffith's one. I really have no knowledge of ODE's or PDE's, will I get lost without any knowledge of the?

 

[qspeechc]

If you're worried about the mathematics you can use this book as a supplement:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0471198269/?tag=pfamazon01-20
There are used paperback copies starting from $32.00.
From what I remember, Griffiths expects you to know vector calculus, and well. Many of the questions seem to be disguised vector calc problems to me. ODEs would be nice too, but I think he walks you through all the differential equations stuff. I am not a fan of Griffith's style, but I don't know any other books. But yea, the book by Boas is really helpful, not just for the EM course but for all your undergrad physics courses.
Have fun.

 

[Daverz]

You might try a more intermediate text like Rojansky. The first half of The Feynman Lectures vol. 2 is also good for background reading (no exercises).

 

[Phyisab****]

Yea technically you will be fine, you don't really need ODE's or PDE's, he walks you through that stuff like someone said above, It's just my opinion that he does a kind of poor job of it in chapter 3, which just blew my mind back in the day. But there's no use worrying about that really, you just have to jump right in I guess.

 

[qspeechc]

Yea technically you will be fine, you don't really need ODE's or PDE's, he walks you through that stuff like someone said above, It's just my opinion that he does a kind of poor job of it in chapter 3, which just blew my mind back in the day. But there's no use worrying about that really, you just have to jump right in I guess.

I agree actually. Everyone says he does a wonderful job of explaining mathematics you don't know, but I disagree. I hadn't taken PDEs when I read his EM book and I found his explanations of PDEs quite poor, which is where I found Boas's book very useful. I also used Introduction to the Differential Equations of Physics by Ludwig Hopf, a dover book which they don't seem to be publishing anymore, but is very cheap and excellently written. Hopf first covers ODEs briefly, then methods for PDEs, and then the most common PDEs in physics, all the time with lots of physical intuition. And all in only 120 pages or so. Don't worry about the age of the book, it's still very useful.

(By the way, I found his explanations of the mathematics in his QM book quite poor as well. Which is one of the reasons I don't like the two books.)

EDIT: working through physics books with mathematics you haven't learned yet is part and parcel of being a physics student, or so my physics friends tell me.