Customer Reviews

Electromagnetic Fields and Waves (Dover Books on Physics)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This text sits midway in difficulty between a first year physics treatment of E&M and more advanced texts like Lorrain and Carson's Electromagnetic Fields and Waves and Jackson's Classical Electrodynamics. Dr. Rojansky argues that most students require a patient, careful discussion of fundamentals before undertaking advanced studies. His book moves at a leisurely pace, sytematically laying down a solid foundation. However, unlike many first year physics texts, he assumes that the reader is familiar with integration methods and partial differentiation. He does devote a few chapters to reviewing fundamentals that will be useful later - curves and surfaces, solid angles, Taylor's Theorem in three dimensions, vector fields, cylindrical and spherical coordinates.

Somewhat early Rojansky introduces a simple physical model, a copper block with a cylindrical hole, and then frequently revisits this model to address increasingly complex problems. It proves to be an effective way to link more advanced sections to earlier lessons.

During new derivations, references are often made to earlier derivations and results (by equation and section number). I had to stop, thumb back to earlier sections to find a result, and then move back to the derivation at hand. Rojansky's text is not unique in this respect, but at times I did find it annoying.

Rojansky assumes that the reader works most exercises (or at least thinks seriously about them) and should you fail to do so, you could find yourself returning to earlier sections for review. The problems are not overly difficult and useful hints are provided. Answers are not provided and it may be helpful to refer to a general problem set (like Schaum's).

Rojansky limits his text to electrostatic fields and magnetically induced electric fields, to isotropic media, and to macroscopic phenomena. Nevertheless, despite the leisurely approach and avoidance of electrodynamics, this book is not an entirely easy read. Maxwell's equations do emerge and more difficult chapters address topics like integrating delta functions, solving Laplace's equations, and investigating plane electromagnetic waves, antenna radiation, and wave guides. As with most Dover reprints, this book is a good buy. I give it a solid four stars.

Professor Rojansky does a great job explaining clearly with numerous illustrated examples starting with mathematical notes and ending with a brief summary in several appendix. In the body of the text his examples and demonstrations are clear and illustrated. He chooses to use both mks and cgs units for historical and practical reasons. Development of a topic is as the cover describes "explicit and unhurried". This book is a nice text or a good supplement. Not a collection of solved problems but a good teaching text. Other books that I like include: "Classical Electrodynamics by Jackson", so the "age" of this book is of no concern to me. At the price offered for "Rojansky" how can you go wrong!

I am a amateur radio operator and have degrees in mathematics. I was looking for a book that would show the derivation of the equations but also give a good feel for what they mean. Although the "proofs" in this book do not go down to as fine a detail as possible, I found it has just the right depth to keep focused on the meaning of the equations.

After grinding through the text and working all the exercises I am now in a position to usefully read deeper works. I was particularly happy that the book derives the equations for the field due to a short dipole (three different ways!) and also gives the basics of waveguides. These are very important to those interested in radio communications.

I can now see why Rojansky was a legend where he taught.

The author is exceptionally clear and careful in his definitions. These definitions always -- always -- tie back to how to measure a quantity. I like this very much. The pace is a bit slower than most books. This is a great book for self study. Suitable for 2nd or 3rd year physics, or a refresher.

Thoroughly enjoyable, patiently explaining most of the mathematical concepts. This is the clearest and most accessible exposition of Maxwell's eqns I have seen.

I liked this book very much -- it starts with basic concepts such as scalar fields, and slowly builds upon mathematical and physical concepts to eventually arrive at Maxwell's equations. The book develops rather than assume the advanced principles needed for understanding of electromagnetism at an advanced level. Having said that, it would be very difficult for someone who hasn't had college level calculus and who doesn't have a reasonable level of mathematical maturity to get much from this book. This book is inappropriate for someone who wants a basic explanation of how a radio works. This book is appropriate for someone who has a solid understanding of electricity, magnetism, and intermediate mathematics, and who wants to go to the next level of understanding.

I am sorry if you have been told you have to use this book for class. The information is all there - E&M doesn't exactly change, but the format is amazingly confusing. The typeface is offensive and the symbols are not the standards. Other little things, like the way previously defined equations are referenced (43^19 means section 43 EQ19) are confusing and so over used that you can't read one page of the book without haveing to look something up elsewhere in the book. The book is cheap for a reason, corners were cut to print such a small book. If you have not done any E&M it might be ok because you won't be looking for the standard symbols and formatting. Otherwise, if you have the choice, use a different book.

The author talks of electromagnetics but he barely touches on how they work, he just talks of the concepts and future possibilities. He should rewrite it for us "Dumber" readers.