文档介绍：Mathematical Methods
Sadri Hassani
Mathematical Methods
For Students of Physics and Related Fields
123
Sadri Hassani
IIlinois State University
Normal, IL
USA
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ISBN: 978-0-387-09503-5 e-ISBN: 978-0-387-09504-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2008935523
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Printed on acid-free paper
To my wife, Sarah,
and to my children,
Dane Arash and Daisy Bita
Preface to the Second
Edition
In this new edition, which is a substantially revised version of the old one,
I have added five new chapters: Vectors in Relativity (Chapter 8), Tensor
Analysis (Chapter 17), Integral Transforms (Chapter 29), Calculus of Varia-
tions (Chapter 30), and Probability Theory (Chapter 32). The discussion of
vectors in Part II, especially the introduction of the inner product, offered the
opportunity to present the special theory of relativity, which unfortunately,
in most undergraduate physics curricula receives little attention. While the
main motivation for this chapter was vectors, I grabbed the opportunity to
develop the Lorentz transformation and Minkowski distance, the bedrocks of
the special theory of relativity, from first principles.
The short section, Vectors and Indices