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Basic Training in Mathematics: A Fitness Program for Science Students | 
 enlarge | Author: R. Shankar
Publisher: Springer
Category: Book
List Price: $99.00
Buy New: $61.74
You Save: $37.26 (38%)
New (22) Used (15) from $54.00
Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 770017
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 388
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 7 x 1.1
ISBN: 0306450356
Dewey Decimal Number: 515
EAN: 9780306450358
Publication Date: June 30, 1995
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Condition: Brand New, Condition, Delivery Through Fedex/UPS/DHL With a Fedex/UPS/DHL Tracking Number: We Do not Deliver to P.O Box Address
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Product Description
Are you: Entering a program in the physical sciences? A high school student who has taken most of the offered courses, and looking for a glimpse of college mathematics? Engaged in self-study to hone your mathematical skills? Then R. Shankar’s Basic Training in Mathematics: A Fitness Program for Science Students is written for you. Based on the author’s course at Yale University, the book addresses the widening gap found by Professor Shankar and his colleagues between the mathematics needed for upper-level science study and the knowledge possessed by incoming students. This superb text organizes the necessary mathematics background into a one-semester course covering such topics as: - A review of calculus - Infinite series - Functions of a complex variable - Vector calculus - Matrices - Linear vector spaces - Differential equations Get in shape for your future science studies with this outstanding text.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Excellent review or introduction to math methods for physics March 29, 1999
Miguel F. Morales (mmorales@physics.ucsc.edu) (Santa Cruz, California)
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
This is the best book I have found for explaining the math needed by physicists and others in the hard sciences. Shankar uses a very conceptual approach to the mathematics without dwelling on proofs - leaving the reader with an understanding of the mathematics involved. He also tackles difficult ideas like: why are complex numbers necessary and where do they come from? Most books simply assume these ideas and run off into the wild blue yonder with some proofs to give a veneer of completeness, whereas Shankar tries to give a conceptual underpinning that is invaluable when he tackles advanced topics (such as contour integration). His approach throughout is conceptual and pragmatic - giving you a solid understanding for the math you will actually use. Though it is designed for undergraduates, I would also recommend it to anyone either reviewing their math or (re)learning math they should have already known. I used this book to study for the math section of my physics PhD. qualifier and I only wish that I had stumbled across it sooner - it would have made many of my physics courses a lot easier.
Provides an excellent grounding in fundamentals June 2, 1998
16 out of 17 found this review helpful
This was the textbook used for a class I took several years ago, and since then I've really grown to appreciate what a great foundation in mathematical methods it gave me. The text is clear and concise, the problems challenging and illuminating. Shankar writes with a dry sense of humor that makes his book anything but dry reading for the student (a frequent problem I've had with other math textbooks). I've found this book an invaluable reference on numerous occasions. I think the best praise that I can give is that it provided me with a mathematical intuition for much of what I learned in physics, especially Quantum Mechanics. Shankar ingeniously sets up many problems so that when the student comes across the topics in later study, he or she not only already understands the mathematical basis for the physical laws but also can guess where the arguments are going next. Using this book and Shankar's Quantum Mechanics textbook in a later course made for one of the most rewarding intellectual explorations I have ever had.
Extremely well-chosen and tightly focused presentation May 31, 1998
Dr. Jeffrey Satinover (Weston, Connecticut)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
The text presents in remarkably clear and concise fashion exactly those areas of mathematics required for the physical sciences, especially physics. The sections on linear algebra, vector spaces, Hilbert space, Fourier analysis and differential equations build and articulate elegantly to open a first window on the vistas of quantum mechanics. Problems are likewise chosen with care to assist the student in raising himself to the next level of understanding, section by section in a well-thought out sequence. The only problems are with visual layout of the text and occasional typographical errors (one in a complex differential equation that forms the basis of a problem). I have since gone back to this text many times as a refresher.
A Quick math methods book June 19, 2001
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
.If you enjoyed Klepner & Ramsay 's "Quick Calculus" as a school student for its engaging and dearly wished there was an undergrad math methods book in that style! The answer is this book. You may not find a work book type fromat like "Quick calculus" . But let me assure you despite the formal style and Prof Shankar's repute for being verbose you will find it like a rhaphsody and yet in coherent english. I only dearly wish Prof Shankar would kill some research time to write a Graduate level fitness programme. I think all the previous reviewers justly awarded 5 stars to this book. To those raters responisble for eating half a star , let me say there is no other engaging lively and painless math review than this. If you find this book painful I don't know what to say . But on the contrary of you thought the book was too easy then read the title it is a fitness programme not a discourse like Morse & Feshbach or Courant & Hilbert.
An excellent math review for physics April 8, 2000
Glenn McDavid (Roseville, Minnesota)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book covers the basic areas of math needed for physics. It is quite readable and useful for self-study. It covers the standard topics in a concise fashion, but in sufficient detail to be useful. I used it as a personal math refresher after being away from advanced physics for some years. It gave me what I needed.
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