Mathematics for Physical Chemistry

Physical chemistry, it has been observed, is difficult because of the mathematics, but impossibly difficult without it. For that reason McQuarrie (chemistry, U. of California at Davis) included "MathChapters" in his Physical Chemistry: A Molecular Approach (with John Simon) and his Quantum Chemistry. Here he expands those materials into an independent volume. The material is presented at a practical level with an emphasis on applications to physical problems, although a few theorems along with their conditions are given. Chapters cover differentiation, integration, series and limits, functions defined by integrals, complex numbers, ordinary differential equations, power series solutions of differential equations, orthogonal polynomials, Fourier series, Fourier transforms, operators, functions of several variables, vectors, plane polar coordinates and spherical coordinates, the classical wave equation, the Schrodinger equation, determinants, matrices, matrix eigenvalue problems, vector spaces, probability, statistical regression and correlation, and numerical methods. Each chapter includes about 30 problems, most illustrating applications to physical problems. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)