Customer Reviews

Waves and Oscillations: A Prelude to Quantum Mechanics

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

 

 

Pros: This book gives a very well-thought-out treatment of harmonic oscillation, without losing sight of important techniques for solving all kinds of common differential equations. The section on normal mode analysis is very clear, and introduces key quantum mechanical notation (like bra-ket notation) early on. The book really shines, though, in its introduction of the DFT, which is entirely natural and intuitive. The incorporation of Mathematica into many of the problems is a nice touch, but is not essential to the book.

Cons: Even for a physics text, this book lacks in mathematical rigour at points. The transition from discrete to continuous Fourier analysis is a bit rocky, due to a lack of mathematical grounding. Presentation can be cartoonish.

Overall: Smith takes a novel and highly successful approach to what might otherwise be a "mathematical methods" text. Although certainly not as formal or as complete as some of the alternatives, this book is highly accessible, and will provide an intuitive introduction to the extremely important subject of harmonic oscillation for everyone from advanced freshmen to juniors. The incorporation of Java applets into many of the problems is also unusual for a text of this kind, and is a big win. Definitely a book worth seeing.

This book is really helpful. I took a class on waves with this, and still used it a few times during a physics research internship. Walter Fox Smith breaks down some tough concepts (like Hilbert Space) into easy-to-understand explanations with common language.

If you like waves and/or physics texts, this book is definitely a buy.

It's easy for textbooks, especially physics textbooks to get bland and use stuffy/complex language. Smith takes you through things at a good pace with a nice mix of theoretical and concrete treatment. I have two waves and optics textbooks by different authors. I skimmed most of my old book because the chapters were long and didn't have many applications. This book was very well organized and if you need more applications than what's in the chapter there are really cool apps on the book website and the HWK problems give great applications too! Smith really has a delightful sense of humor-- you can tell he loves the subject.
What's interesting about this book is he approaches the material using math that is extremly useful in Quantum Physics. The transition to quantum is tough on a lot of people but this book makes preparing easier and more enjoyable. I thought I would sell the book back when I was done with the class but it's a great reference-- at the end of each chapter there's a list of "what you should know", "key terms", that includes applied and conceptual terms rather than just equations(my last book just listed equations which was annoying). The lists are extremely useful if you're having trouble recalling stuff for HWK or need to look up something for another course. I am so glad I used this book. Smith is really cool and most importantly the physics was well explained!

I really like this book. The book deals with waves and oscillations in a very mathematical way. It also teaches you how to make proper approximations that will make the math clean while retaining the accuracy of the model.(I was never good at that). It provides an excellent introduction to quantum.