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, Mathematical Methods for Physics and Engineering
The third edition of this highly acclaimed undergraduate textbook is suitable
for teaching all the mathematics ever likely to be needed for an undergraduate
course in any of the physical sciences. As well as lucid descriptions of all the
topics covered and many worked examples, it contains more than 800 exercises.
A number of additional topics have been included and the text has undergone
significant reorganisation in some areas. New stand-alone chapters:
• give a systematic account of the ‘special functions’ of physical science
• cover an extended range of practical applications of complex variables including
WKB methods and saddle-point integration techniques
• provide an introduction to quantum operators.
Further tabulations, of relevance in statistics and numerical integration, have
been added. In this edition, all 400 odd-numbered exercises are provided with
complete worked solutions in a separate manual, available to both students and
their teachers; these are in addition to the hints and outline answers given in
the main text. The even-numbered exercises have no hints, answers or worked
solutions and can be used for unaided homework; full solutions to them are
available to instructors on a password-protected website.
K e n R i l e y read mathematics at the University of Cambridge and proceeded
to a Ph.D. there in theoretical and experimental nuclear physics. He became a
research associate in elementary particle physics at Brookhaven, and then, having
taken up a lectureship at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, continued this
research at the Rutherford Laboratory and Stanford; in particular he was involved
in the experimental discovery of a number of the early baryonic resonances. As
well as having been Senior Tutor at Clare College, where he has taught physics
and mathematics for over 40 years, he has served on many committees concerned
with the teaching and examining of these subjects at all levels of tertiary and
undergraduate education. He is also one of the authors of 200 Puzzling Physics
Problems.
M i c h a e l H o b s o n read natural sciences at the University of Cambridge, spe-
cialising in theoretical physics, and remained at the Cavendish Laboratory to
complete a Ph.D. in the physics of star-formation. As a research fellow at Trinity
Hall, Cambridge and subsequently an advanced fellow of the Particle Physics
and Astronomy Research Council, he developed an interest in cosmology, and
in particular in the study of fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background.
He was involved in the first detection of these fluctuations using a ground-based
interferometer. He is currently a University Reader at the Cavendish Laboratory,
his research interests include both theoretical and observational aspects of cos-
mology, and he is the principal author of General Relativity: An Introduction for
, Physicists. He is also a Director of Studies in Natural Sciences at Trinity Hall and
enjoys an active role in the teaching of undergraduate physics and mathematics.
S t e p h e n B e n c e obtained both his undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences
and his Ph.D. in Astrophysics from the University of Cambridge. He then became
a Research Associate with a special interest in star-formation processes and the
structure of star-forming regions. In particular, his research concentrated on the
physics of jets and outflows from young stars. He has had considerable experi-
ence of teaching mathematics and physics to undergraduate and pre-universtiy
students.
ii
, Mathematical Methods for Physics and Engineering
The third edition of this highly acclaimed undergraduate textbook is suitable
for teaching all the mathematics ever likely to be needed for an undergraduate
course in any of the physical sciences. As well as lucid descriptions of all the
topics covered and many worked examples, it contains more than 800 exercises.
A number of additional topics have been included and the text has undergone
significant reorganisation in some areas. New stand-alone chapters:
• give a systematic account of the ‘special functions’ of physical science
• cover an extended range of practical applications of complex variables including
WKB methods and saddle-point integration techniques
• provide an introduction to quantum operators.
Further tabulations, of relevance in statistics and numerical integration, have
been added. In this edition, all 400 odd-numbered exercises are provided with
complete worked solutions in a separate manual, available to both students and
their teachers; these are in addition to the hints and outline answers given in
the main text. The even-numbered exercises have no hints, answers or worked
solutions and can be used for unaided homework; full solutions to them are
available to instructors on a password-protected website.
K e n R i l e y read mathematics at the University of Cambridge and proceeded
to a Ph.D. there in theoretical and experimental nuclear physics. He became a
research associate in elementary particle physics at Brookhaven, and then, having
taken up a lectureship at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, continued this
research at the Rutherford Laboratory and Stanford; in particular he was involved
in the experimental discovery of a number of the early baryonic resonances. As
well as having been Senior Tutor at Clare College, where he has taught physics
and mathematics for over 40 years, he has served on many committees concerned
with the teaching and examining of these subjects at all levels of tertiary and
undergraduate education. He is also one of the authors of 200 Puzzling Physics
Problems.
M i c h a e l H o b s o n read natural sciences at the University of Cambridge, spe-
cialising in theoretical physics, and remained at the Cavendish Laboratory to
complete a Ph.D. in the physics of star-formation. As a research fellow at Trinity
Hall, Cambridge and subsequently an advanced fellow of the Particle Physics
and Astronomy Research Council, he developed an interest in cosmology, and
in particular in the study of fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background.
He was involved in the first detection of these fluctuations using a ground-based
interferometer. He is currently a University Reader at the Cavendish Laboratory,
his research interests include both theoretical and observational aspects of cos-
mology, and he is the principal author of General Relativity: An Introduction for
, Physicists. He is also a Director of Studies in Natural Sciences at Trinity Hall and
enjoys an active role in the teaching of undergraduate physics and mathematics.
S t e p h e n B e n c e obtained both his undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences
and his Ph.D. in Astrophysics from the University of Cambridge. He then became
a Research Associate with a special interest in star-formation processes and the
structure of star-forming regions. In particular, his research concentrated on the
physics of jets and outflows from young stars. He has had considerable experi-
ence of teaching mathematics and physics to undergraduate and pre-universtiy
students.
ii
