Physics of Waves (Dover Books on Physics) [Paperback]

William C. Elmore (Author), Mark A. Heald (Author), Physics (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0486649261 | ISBN-13: 978-0486649269 | Publication Date: October 1, 1985

Ideal as a classroom text or for individual study, this unique one-volume overview of classical wave theory covers wave phenomena of acoustics, optics, electromagnetic radiations, and more. Topics include fundamentals, Bessel functions, waveguides, elasticity theory, hydrodynamic waves, and special phenomenon of wave diffraction. With problems.

Product Details

• Paperback: 477 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (October 1, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486649261
• ISBN-13: 978-0486649269
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #236,710 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #38 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Physics > Waves & Wave Mechanics

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Hit and Miss, December 18, 2001

By 

Michael Covelli (Liverpool, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Physics of Waves (Dover Books on Physics) (Paperback)

Elmore and Heald is a very hit and miss book. The first chapter about simple transverse waves on strings is pretty good except for the confusing treatment of Fourier series (which I can't imagine would help anyone who hasn't seen them before). Chapter 3 on elastic theory was fine too and the EM waves stuff in chapter 8 wasn't bad.

However, the introduction to tensors in chapter 7 and their application to more complex elastic theory was horrible. The dyadic notation they use is really old-fashioned and their presentation is confusing. The stuff in chapter 12 on fourier transforms and integrals wasn't that great either.

More generally, the problem is that it spends too much time diving into excruciating detail without teaching and emphasizing important concepts. Not to mention the fact that there are no example problems.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Confusing!, May 25, 2005

By 

Jun Zhou Zhang (Coram, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Physics of Waves (Dover Books on Physics) (Paperback)

I cannot say anything good about this book except the fact that it's cheap. Even so, I think the book is not very worth the money. The notation and presentation are old and outdated. There are no example problems. The author often delves into technical details without fully introduce the concepts. This book may make a good technical reference, but it is, by no means, a good textbook that is supposed to teach students physics. As a not-so-dull physics students in Cornell (where they have been using this book for the honors wave class for years), I did not learn much physics from this book and was often left confused about what the author is trying to say.
I feel deeply sorry for Cornell students who have suffered under this book and prospective students who will be spending 4 months trying to understand this book. If you are in a physics class which uses this book, I strongly sugguest that you get a better text. Although there aren't many outstanding text on waves out there, many books are more suitable than this one, such as the one in the MIT introdctory sequence by French and Taylor.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book after you've already learned some "physics of waves", January 6, 2010

By 

Haining Wang (NY, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Physics of Waves (Dover Books on Physics) (Paperback)

just few points:

(1) This is not a book for a undergrad taking any wave class for the first time
(2) It's such a great summary book for grad students who already learned waves at least once (EM/acoustic). Reading this book is such an enjoyable experience, that scattered knowledge of waves finally merges together, and different physics eventually turn out to be just some special treatment to the same wave equation (mathematically).

it's a great book for student who really want to have a profound understanding of what really wave is, but it might be a bad one if you just want to pass your exam.Physics of Waves