Symmetry: An Introduction to Group Theory and Its Applications

By Roy McWeeny

Book Overview

The crucial significance of symmetry to the development of group theory and in the fields of physics and chemistry cannot be overstated, and this well-organized volume provides an excellent introduction to the topic. The text develops the elementary ideas of both group theory and representation theory in a progressive and thorough fashion, leading students to a point from which they can proceed easily to more elaborate applications. The finite groups describing the symmetry of regular polyhedral and of repeating patterns are emphasized, and geometric illustrations of all main processes appear here -- including more than 100 fully worked examples. Designed to be read at a variety of levels and to allow students to focus on any of the main fields of application, this volume is geared toward advanced undergraduate and graduate physics and chemistry students with the requisite mathematical background.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486421821
• ISBN13: 9780486421827
• Release Date: June 2002
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Elegant, as usual...

For a glaring example of one of the main themes of "Exit Ghost" one need only read the recent Vanity Fair article about Arthur Miller's institutionalization of his Down Syndrome son. It was an article guaranteed to create a scandal; it was "cultural journalism" - tabloid gossip masquerading as literary investigation. It called into question the character of a great writer (as opposed, sadly, to the great writer's characters,...

A Voice That Becomes Better With Age

Let me make a confession: I am a Philip Roth junkie. Each year, I look forward to reading a new book by Mr. Roth, who tackles some of the difficult questions that plague us, yet those with which most of us fail to discuss. In his newest book, Exit Ghost, Mr. Roth gives us an aging, reclusive, incontenent and impotent character in the form of Nathan Zuckerman. As Zuckerman faces his own physical limitations, he must also tackle...

Roth Takes on the State of Literature in the Modern Culture

"Exit Ghost" is the second Philip Roth book that I've read. I read the first, "Everyman," a few months ago, and it convinced me that I'd been foolishly wrongheaded about not reading Roth earlier in my life. I had falsely believed that his male-centered themes and characters might hold no interest for me, a woman who came of age during the 1970s feminist movement. But my experience with these two books has taught me otherwise...

The End Of The Literary Era

In his latest creation, Roth shows that even a 71 year old incontinent and impotent Zuckerman (Roth in disguise) can still produce amazingly poignant and truly important literature. The book centers around the attempt to regain continence through a new procedure, while at the same time showing that regardless of the state of inoperative reproductive equipment, thoughts of sexuality still meander frequently and aggressively...

Haunting

There are lots of ghosts in this exquisite novel, and most of them take the reader back to _The Ghost Writer_, where the young Nathan Zuckerman met E.I Lonoff and Amy Bellette, two characters who haunt the old Nathan. In this tale, Lonoff, long dead, is being exhumed by a Young Turk who wants to make a name for himself by writing a scandalous biography of the writer. Amy, one of the walking dead, her brain riddled with cancer...