Welcome to physics 466 for 2015.
We will be using a textbook called Physical Mathematics published
by Cambridge University Press.
Amazon sells the hardcover edition for $76 and the Kindle one for $54.
Be sure to ask for the 2014 printing which has many of the typos corrected.
The videos of the
lectures are at quantum.phys.unm.edu/466-15/lectures.html.
There also is a list of errata
at quantum.phys.unm.edu/466-15/errata.html. Please send new errata to
me.
I started writing this book when Elsevier bought Academic Press
the publisher of the book by Arfken et al. which I had
been using. Elsevier charges so much for its journals
and books that it has made much of modern science
inaccessible to all but the wealthiest institutions and
individuals.
When you start
writing papers, you should post them on the arXiv (arxiv.org) and
submit them to journals not owned by Elsevier or Wiley. Pass
it on.
Here is what I plan to cover in this course:
Linear
algebra:
3 weeks
Fourier series:
1.5
Fourier transforms: 1.5
Infinite series:
1
Complex variables: 3
Differential equations: 3
Integral equations: 0.5
Legendre polynomials: 1.5
Bessel functions:
1.5
These topics are discussed in the first nine chapters of the book.
All homework problems are stated in the book Physical Mathematics.
Keith Sanders and I will be doing some of the homework problems during
the weekly problem session
which is held on Tuesdays
at 7 pm in room 184.
Put homework in Keith Sanders's mailbox by 3:30 PM each Friday.
You can send him e-mail here.
You can send me e-mail here.
Tentative list of homework assignments:
First homework assignment: Do
problems 1-14 of chapter 1 by Friday, 28 August.
Second homework assignment: Do
problems 15-28 of chapter 1 by Friday, 4 September.
Third homework assignment: Do problems 29-40 of chapter 1
by Friday, 11 September.
Fourth homework assignment: Do problems 1-14 of
chapter 2 by Friday, 18 September.
Fifth homework assignment: Do problems 15-23 of chapter 2 and
1-5 of chapter 3 by Friday, 25 September.
Sixth homework assignment: Do problems 6-18 of chapter 3 and
1 of chapter 4 by Tuesday, 6 October.
Seventh homework assignment: Do problems 2-18
of chapter 4 by Tuesday, 20 October.
Eighth homework assignment: Do problems 19-22 of chapter 4
and 1-10 of chapter 5 by Tuesday, 27
October.
Ninth homework assignment: Do problems 11-24 of chapter 5 by
Tuesday, 3 November.
Tenth homework assignment: Do problems 25-38 of chapter 5 by
Tuesday, 10 November.
Eleventh homework assignment: Do problems 39-44 of chapter 5
and 1-8 of chapter 6 by Tuesday, 17 November.
Twelfth homework assignment: Do problems 9-22 of chapter 6
by Tuesday, 24 November.
Thirteenth homework assignment: Do problems 23-37 of chapter
6 by Thursday, 3 December.
Fourteenth homework assignment: Do problems 1-5 of chapter 8
and 1-5 of chapter 9 by Thursday, 10 December.
The final lecture is Thursday, 10 December in room 184 from 5:30 to 7:30.