An Introduction to Computer Simulation Methods: Applications to Physical Systems (3rd Edition) [Paperback]

Harvey Gould (Author), Jan Tobochnik (Author), Wolfgang Christian (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 19, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0805377581 | ISBN-13: 978-0805377583 | Edition: 3

KEY BENEFIT: Now in its third edition, this book teaches physical concepts using computer simulations. The text incorporates object-oriented programming techniques and encourages readers to develop good programming habits in the context of doing physics. Designed for readers at all levels, An Introduction to Computer Simulation Methods uses Java, currently the most popular programming language. Introduction, Tools for Doing Simulations, Simulating Particle Motion, Oscillatory Systems, Few-Body Problems: The Motion of the Planets, The Chaotic Motion of Dynamical Systems, Random Processes, The Dynamics of Many Particle Systems, Normal Modes and Waves, Electrodynamics, Numerical and Monte Carlo Methods, Percolation, Fractals and Kinetic Growth Models, Complex Systems, Monte Carlo Simulations of Thermal Systems, Quantum Systems, Visualization and Rigid Body Dynamics, Seeing in Special and General Relativity, Epilogue: The Unity of Physics For all readers interested in developing programming habits in the context of doing physics.

 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Harvey Gould uses molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo methods to study glasses, the dynamics of first-order phase transitions, and other problems in statistical mechanics. His work involves the application of computer simulation algorithms as well as renormalization group and cluster methods. Gould recently co-authored the second edition of an undergraduate level text on computer simulation in physics. He can "foresee the day when physics students take a required computational science curriculum comparable in scope to the present day mathematics curriculum."

Gould is a native of California and received his B.A. and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He did postdoctoral work at the National Bureau of Standards and taught at the University of Michigan before coming to Clark University in 1971. His leisure time is spent with his family and listening to music, especially jazz.

Product Details

• Paperback: 720 pages
• Publisher: Addison Wesley; 3 edition (January 19, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805377581
• ISBN-13: 978-0805377583
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #591,338 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars very good introductory computational physics book, April 27, 2005

By 

Locust - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Introduction to Computer Simulation Methods: Applications to Physical System (2nd Edition) (Hardcover)

This was my first comp. physics book and it was easy and
very instructive. I can assure your money is well spent.
If you find this book too easy, then you should move on to
Thijssen's Computational Physics which is intended for the
`graduate' level readers.
Only 4 stars (not 5) because I don't think that the codes
provided in the book are that useful. Everyone has different
coding style. What really matters is the physical concepts and
not the numerical receipes.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good introductory book, October 19, 2005

By 

Etelvina Fonseca "EFonseca" (Coimbra, Portugal) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: An Introduction to Computer Simulation Methods: Applications to Physical System (2nd Edition) (Hardcover)

Good introductory book on Computational Physics.
Projects proposed cover different difficulties so it can be used for college students at all levels.Concepts are well explainded. Introduces areas including linear and nonlinear systems, normal modes and waves, and electrodynamics. This second edition offers expanded material on chaos, complexity, and quantum mechanics, programs with more use of graphics, and appendices on Fortran and C.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes Physics a pleasure, April 18, 2004

By 

Riccardo Audano (Chiavari, Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: An Introduction to Computer Simulation Methods: Applications to Physical System (2nd Edition) (Hardcover)

Excellent, outstanding book for clarity, elegance, writing style and level of detail. This book won't leave you alone on the intricacies of marrying physics and computer programming and will make your programming activity more intereesting if you are more of a programmer and you physical studies more rewarding and less
"pen-and-paperlike" if you are an aspiring physicist. In fact I highly recommend this book to anyone that has an interest in how nature works and in playing with computers. The extreme clarity of this book makes it accessible to junior colege students and even to advanced, motivated high school students or for self study. I would have preferred to see the example code in the book
in C or better C++ but using BASIC has the advantage of making the book more esy to read and is just sligtly annoying for the
C++ or Java programmer. ( Are there any other kind of real programmers? ;) Just make sure you master your language enough to make calculations, use functions, and are able to produce at least some basic graphics (using C++ and openGL or DirectX would rock). Judge by yourself, but I would buy without a thought a book whose first chapter is on the "Coffe Cooling Problem".