Customer Reviews

Scaling (Cambridge Texts in Applied Mathematics)

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Dimensional analysis is a must for physicists and applied mathematicians, and is usually taught to undergraduates very concisely. This short book will take it to the next level, both of mathematical rigor and of physical insight. The book is built around some well-chosen and carefully worked out examples, each a gem on its own. A pleasure to read.

I got this book on the hope to learn more on scaling and dimensional analysis techniques. I already owned Pankhurst's and Huntley's books on dimensional analysis as well as Lin and Segel's "Mathematics applied to deterministic problems in the Natural Sciences" but wanted to get more insight into the group theoretical aspects. At first I hesitated due to the slightly high price for such a thin book as this but at last I decided to buy it. I did not regret it. This is a great resource on the topic of scaling, showing both the theory and deep group-theoretical connections, everything explained very pedagogically and in accessible manner. I also encountered for the first time the useful concept of intermediate asymptotics. Beware potential readers though, this is not a novel and requires serious effort from your side to grasp this material.

Scalding stream coming out of my head?
If it wasn't that this fellow is an ancient Russian scholar
who knew all the great ones personally ( Kolmogorov, von Karman,
etc.) I would have rated his book worse for what he left out
that is "need to know":
1) Hurst exponents ( H.E. Hurst 1951, 1955 Long term storage of reserviors)
2) Manfred Robert SchroederFractals, Chaos, Power Laws: Minutes from an Infinite Paradise
3) M. Feigenbaum ( scalings in terms of renormalizations)
4) Ludwig von Bertalanffy ( Allometric scallings)General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications
Talking about scaling and leaving out these fellows is pretty much unforgivable?
The contrary is his coverage of respiration, atomic bomb fireballs
and various fluid dynamic flows.
Barenblatt is just very old:
he hasn't kept up with stuff outside of
fluid dynamics very well?
It appears he got to the west after the cold war.
He's the real deal.
He reminds me of Mandelbrot in his picture.
He doesn't know everything,
but what he does know,
he is damned good at.