Mathematics for Quantum Mechanics: An Introductory Survey of Operators, Eigenvalues, and Linear Vector Spaces

by John David Jackson

Book Overview

This concise text for advanced undergraduates and graduate students covers eigenvalue problems in classical physics, orthogonal functions and expansions, the Sturm-Liouville theory and linear operators on functions, and linear vector spaces. It emphasizes the unity of a variety of techniques and is enduringly relevant to many physical systems. 1962 edition.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486453081
• ISBN13: 9780486453088
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Brief but enjoyable primer

This is a brief but good introduction to operators, eigenvalues, and linear vector spaces. The discussion starts out with motivating the study of eigenvalues, which emerged from problems such as that of a vibrating string, and other problems with boundary conditions. The book then goes on to consider orthogonal functions and expansions, Sturm-Liouville theory and linear operators, and the last chapter is on vector spaces. Plus there are two appendices, one on Bessel cylindrical functions and the other on Legendre functions and spherical harmonics. The vector chapter is over 40 pages and about half of the book, the other chapters being relatively brief, but enough to get your feet wet. I especially enjoyed the chapter on Sturm-Liouville theory, which I didn't know much about before, but had heard about for many years. For a little primer it was fine for that purpose and was money well spent, considering that the book was only eight bucks (with a one dollar discount for paperbacks at B & N). I'm a big fan of the Dover paperbacks which often reprint quality classics at a fraction of what you'd pay for a modern text, and which are often better. Some advanced books in math and engineering these days can be $80 to $120, so Dover paperbacks at ten to fifteen dollars are a bargain. I have many of the Dover books in math and the sciences and consider them the foundation of that part of my library, even if I own other more expensive, more recent volumes.