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Methods of Mathematical Physics, Vol. 2
Since the first volume of this work came out in Germany in 1924, this book, together with its second volume, has remained standard in the field. Courant and Hilbert's treatment restores the historically deep connections between physical intuition and mathematical development, providing the reader with a unified approach to mathematical physics. The present volume represents Richard Courant's second and final revision of 1953.
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First published January 1, 1931
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May 27, 2025
Three stars at best. The mathematics is correct, and let's leave it at that.
This is not a textbook. This is a monograph. The title of this book is misleading. It is not a book on Mathematical Physics. This is a book on special functions and equations, such as: Bessel, Hankel, Lagrange, Leguerre, Laplace, Poisson, Euler, Gamma, Storm-Liouville, and more. And yes, these functions and equations are used in physics. But so is group theory. Being a mathematics book, the notation is very important. Originally written back in 1937, it somewhat uses the notation of the time. The laplacian is written as a simple delta. This is confusing at times because then he also uses delta = (x1 - x0). He interchangeably uses index notation, $a_n$ and differential notation $y_x$.
If you want an old fashion book on special functions, you might want to check this out. It is very wide and very shallow. I doubt you will get much out of it, but it might fill in a special twist you could be interested in.
I expected more and got less.
I will, in the future, read Volume 2, as part of a personal goal. I hope it will be better, but I doubt
it.
A little side note: This is the third book this spring that I have read that have misleading titles; writing to learn - with no learning, proofs as a story - with no story, and mathematical physics - with no physics.
This is not a textbook. This is a monograph. The title of this book is misleading. It is not a book on Mathematical Physics. This is a book on special functions and equations, such as: Bessel, Hankel, Lagrange, Leguerre, Laplace, Poisson, Euler, Gamma, Storm-Liouville, and more. And yes, these functions and equations are used in physics. But so is group theory. Being a mathematics book, the notation is very important. Originally written back in 1937, it somewhat uses the notation of the time. The laplacian is written as a simple delta. This is confusing at times because then he also uses delta = (x1 - x0). He interchangeably uses index notation, $a_n$ and differential notation $y_x$.
If you want an old fashion book on special functions, you might want to check this out. It is very wide and very shallow. I doubt you will get much out of it, but it might fill in a special twist you could be interested in.
I expected more and got less.
I will, in the future, read Volume 2, as part of a personal goal. I hope it will be better, but I doubt
it.
A little side note: This is the third book this spring that I have read that have misleading titles; writing to learn - with no learning, proofs as a story - with no story, and mathematical physics - with no physics.
Displaying 1 of 1 review