Mathematics for Physical Chemistry: Opening Doors
This text, written by best-selling author Donald McQuarrie, is meant to keep doors open to undergraduate and even graduate chemistry students who need a quick review of the mathematical methods that are used throughout chemistry.
Summary
This text, written by best-selling author Donald McQuarrie, is meant to keep doors open to undergraduate and even graduate chemistry students who need a quick review of the mathematical methods that are used throughout chemistry. It is the outgrowth of a collection of “MathChapters” from McQuarrie’s famous texts, Physical Chemistry: A Molecular Approach and Quantum Chemistry Second Edition. These “MathChapters,” now available to all, provide students with concise reviews of mathematical topics, discussing only the minimal amount that students need to know. By reading these reviews before the mathematics is applied to physical chemical problems, a student will be able to spend less time worrying about the math and more time learning the physical chemistry. This book can also be used as a supplement with any traditional textbook on physical or quantum chemistry.
Key Features
- Focuses on clear, mathematical descriptions, written by a chemist for chemists.
- Includes 23 short chapters, with each one designed to be read in a single sitting.
- Presents mathematical material at a practical level with an emphasis on applications to physical problems.
- Contains examples to illustrate the techniques being discussed.
- Features over 600 problems, most of which have answers at the end of the book.
Translated into Japanese.
Resources
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Functions of a Single Variable: Differentiation
Chapter 2: Functions of a Single Variable: Integration
Chapter 3: Series and Limits
Chapter 4: Functions Defined as Integrals
Chapter 5: Complex Numbers
Chapter 6: Differential Equations
Chapter 7: Power Series Solutions of Differential Equations
Chapter 8: Orthogonal Polynomials
Chapter 9: Fourier Series
Chapter 10: Fourier Transforms
Chapter 11: Operators
Chapter 12: Functions of Several Variables
Chapter 13: Vectors
Chapter 14: Coordinate Systems
Chapter 15: The Classical Wave Equation
Chapter 16: The Schrödinger Equation
Chapter 17: Determinants
Chapter 18: Matrices
Chapter 19: Matrix Eigenvalue Problems
Chapter 20: Vector Spaces
Chapter 21: Probability
Chapter 22: Statistics
Chapter 23: Numerical Methods
Index
Reviews
“…the book is very good indeed. It covers just about every topic that a physical chemist is likely to need. A structural advantage is that its 345 pages are divided into 23 short chapters: the constraint of brevity entails that focus is maintained on the essentials, which students will welcome. They will also welcome the numerous worked examples that occur throughout the text and will recognise in most places the relevance of the topic to their subject.”
-Peter Atkins for The Times Higher Education, 27 November 2008
“Physical chemistry is difficult because of the mathematics, but impossibly difficult without it…The material [in this book] is presented at a practical level with an emphasis on applications to physical problems. Each chapter includes about 30 problems, most illustrating applications to physical problems.”
-Booklist