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Tensor Calculus for Physics: A Concise Guide Kindle Edition
Understanding tensors is essential for any physics student dealing with phenomena where causes and effects have different directions. A horizontal electric field producing vertical polarization in dielectrics; an unbalanced car wheel wobbling in the vertical plane while spinning about a horizontal axis; an electrostatic field on Earth observed to be a magnetic field by orbiting astronauts—these are some situations where physicists employ tensors. But the true beauty of tensors lies in this fact: When coordinates are transformed from one system to another, tensors change according to the same rules as the coordinates. Tensors, therefore, allow for the convenience of coordinates while also transcending them. This makes tensors the gold standard for expressing physical relationships in physics and geometry.
Undergraduate physics majors are typically introduced to tensors in special-case applications. For example, in a classical mechanics course, they meet the "inertia tensor," and in electricity and magnetism, they encounter the "polarization tensor." However, this piecemeal approach can set students up for misconceptions when they have to learn about tensors in more advanced physics and mathematics studies (e.g., while enrolled in a graduate-level general relativity course or when studying non-Euclidean geometries in a higher mathematics class).
Dwight E. Neuenschwander's Tensor Calculus for Physics is a bottom-up approach that emphasizes motivations before providing definitions. Using a clear, step-by-step approach, the book strives to embed the logic of tensors in contexts that demonstrate why that logic is worth pursuing. It is an ideal companion for courses such as mathematical methods of physics, classical mechanics, electricity and magnetism, and relativity.
- ISBN-13978-1421415666
- PublisherJohns Hopkins University Press
- Publication date3 December 2014
- LanguageEnglish
- File size11.8 MB
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Review
""An introductory Tensor Calculus for Physics book is a most welcome addition... Professor Neuenschwander's book fills the gap in robust fashion.""
Review
""An introductory Tensor Calculus for Physics book is a most welcome addition... Professor Neuenschwander's book fills the gap in robust fashion.""
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B00RKVG286
- Publisher : Johns Hopkins University Press (3 December 2014)
- Language : English
- File size : 11.8 MB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Not Enabled
- Print length : 244 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : 142141564X
- Best Sellers Rank: 1,032,168 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 18 in Vector Analysis Mathematics
- 18 in Vector Analysis
- 109 in Mathematical Physics (Kindle Store)
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- Fernando Jiménez MotteReviewed in the United States on 27 January 2025
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book on TENSORS from the vision and perspective of a PHYSICS
Verified PurchaseGreat book in TENSORS from the vision and perspective of a PHYSICS . The books is interesting and fascinating to me. I already read and study 40 pages.
- Dr. P. CramerReviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 November 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent textbook
Verified PurchaseThis book is by far the best introduction to tensors I have ever used. The number of dire introductory books I have wasted money on in order to learn the math for GR is disheartening. Only Fleisch's book is useful but this one gives more and unlike Fleisch half of it in not given over to vector analysis.
- IsaacReviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 March 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!
Verified Purchasea beautifully written and book that serves as a fantastic introduction to tensor calc. Certainly a must read for all physics students, particularly if you intend to take astrophysics further.
- ItsAllGoodReviewed in the United States on 9 March 2015
5.0 out of 5 stars Fleich first then Neuenschwander
Verified PurchaseAn excellent book, though, not as lucid as Fleich's "A Student's Guide to Vectors and Tensors." After reading Fleich's, this book is an excellent study for those wishing to learn more about tensors and their applications. It is more mathematically rigorous than Fleich's, but not a book , I would think, for mathematicians.