Book Description
Thorough and accessible, this book presents the design principles of biological systems, and highlights the recurring circuit elements that make up biological networks. It provides a simple mathematical framework which can be used to understand and even design biological circuits. The text avoids specialist terms, focusing instead on several well-studied biological systems that concisely demonstrate key principles. An Introduction to Systems Biology: Design Principles of Biological Circuits builds a solid foundation for the intuitive understanding of general principles. It encourages the reader to ask why a system is designed in a particular way and then proceeds to answer with simplified models.
Customer Reviews:
Clear, rigorous, fascinating.......2007-01-20
I'm a Ph.D. student in biophysics. This is the best treatment of systems biology that I've encountered. It treats both the math and the biology with clarity, rigor, and respect. It simplifies without dumbing down. It's beautifully written. If you doubt that systems biology is a real scientific discipline, this book will change your mind.
Building Mathematical Models of Cells.......2006-09-25
The history of science over the past few centuries is to become ever more specialized. The physicists, becomming ever more concerned with the very large (stars, galaxies, the cosmos) or the very tiny (first atoms, then atomic components, now sub-components. The biologists on the other hand were studying much larger things, such as the cells that make up life. Both sciences developed techniques to facilitate their study.
In recent years, researchers have discovered that sometimes these specialized techniques can be used to develop greater insight into what is happening in other sciences.
In this book, Dr. Alon uses his training in physics to examine certain aspects of biology and to use the terminology and mathematics to describe the way these biological networks work.
The goal of the book is to begin the formulation of general laws that apply to biological networks. This is done by providing a mathematical framework in which some of the design principles of biological systems can help to understand biological networks. In looking at the results, an underlying simplicity not seen before appears in biological systems.
Great Job.......2006-09-09
A superb intro to the field. The math is moderate and helpful. Network concepts and their ties to examples and theory are clearly and succinctly presented. This is a textbook but reads easily like a book. Covers key elements while connecting them by at least mention to up-to-date further research. The basics and the grandeur of systems biology. I am trying to remember now anything on the negative side and cannot.
Book Description
The main difference between this text and many others is that an attempt is made here to present material in a rather relaxed and informal way without omitting important concepts. The text demonstrates the wide range of relevant issues and questions that can be addressed with the help of statistical analysis techniques by presenting over 1,750 realistic problems that arise often in health care, the social and physical sciences, education, business and economics, engineering, and leisure activities. It also convinces your students that statistics is "do-able" by including real data that students have collected and analyzed for class assignments and projects. Additionally, the text utilizes an intuitive, common sense approach (including occasional humorous situation or ridiculous name) to develop concepts whenever possible. Statistics: A First Course employs widely available, inexpensive technologies--particularly Minitab and the TI-83 graphing calculator. We also explore the use of the World Wide Web to collect data, providing students with the means to obtain up-to-date information without leaving their desks.
In short this book is written to communicate with students rather than to lecture to them, and its intent is to convince readers that the study of statistics can be a lively, interesting, and rewarding experience!
Customer Reviews:
You don't need to be afraid of Statistics.......2000-12-15
This is a very friendly statistics book. It is easy to read and understand. The authors also throw in some humorous comments now and then that is something you wouldn't expect to find in a statistics book and this seemed to help with the reading. Many real world business examples are used in the book. The example problems and the end of section or chapter problems are from different areas of study such as business, political, social sciences, and science. This is great for understanding how to apply statistics in real life. I would have to say that all the topics and formulas are explained very well. In some cases there are more then one way to write a formula and Sanders and Smidt makes a point of giving you both formulas. You can decide which formula works for you. The book comes with a CD loaded with the data files for all the problems so you don't have to spend time keying in data. There are copies of the data files come in a variety of formats such as Minitab, Excel Windows, and Macintosh. For most of the example problems the book takes you through the steps using Minitab Statistical software and the TI-83 graphing calculator. You are not only learning statistics, but you are also learning how to use Minitab and the TI-83 graphing calculator. In this day and age if you are going to do statistics you need to be able to do it with a computer. I wish they would have also included examples using Microsoft Excel, which more people are apt to have then Minitab. Personally I use both Minitab and Excel. I actually enjoyed reading this book and looked forward to studying. Even though my statistics class is over this book will not be collecting dust for a while as I plan on going back through it to reread or finish reading what I missed or skimmed over. There are still a lot of the problems that I want to do to reinforce what I have already learned. This is a great statistics book to keep as a reference. More then once I have found coworkers looking up stuff in my book.
Customer Reviews:
Easy to understand, need no other instruction.......2007-02-12
I really like this book. I'm using it for an independent study class and it is ideal. I don't need to contact my instructor for clarification because it is well-written and has good examples.
I give it an A..........2006-12-30
I needed this book for one of my college classes and the Amazon price was almost 3/4 cheaper then in the schools book store. This book was only used for about 3-4 months and from what I saw from the textbook... it was great. I learned a lot and I might keep it around just in case I need it for a future math class. But overall, I give it an A...
Good Math Textbook.......2002-10-07
I used this book for a class I took in college. It was very helpful. Highlights of the book include examples, language, and ease of understanding. I would recommend this book to anyone taking a class that needs it, or even a person just interested in furthering their basic math knowledge. Check this one out!
User Friendly 2nd Ed. Essential for Survey of Mathematics.......2001-12-15
Extremely User friendly text, be sure you are getting 2nd edition and not first, they are not the same!!! Uses real life examples to explain various mathematical models, a book you'll want to hold on to for future use.
A Math Book for the Mathematically Inept.......2000-12-15
There are no numbers in this math book. What kind of math book has no numbers??
Amazon.com
If Albert Einstein were alive, he would have a copy of The Road to Reality on his bookshelf. So would Isaac Newton. This may be the most complete mathematical explanation of the universe yet published, and Roger Penrose richly deserves the accolades he will receive for it. That said, let us be perfectly clear: this is not an easy book to read. The number of people in the world who can understand everything in it could probably take a taxi together to Penrose's next lecture. Still, math-friendly readers looking for a substantial and possibly even thrillingly difficult intellectual experience should pick up a copy (carefully--it's over a thousand pages long and weighs nearly 4 pounds) and start at the beginning, where Penrose sets out his purpose: to describe "the search for the underlying principles that govern the behavior of our universe." Beginning with the deceptively simple geometry of Pythagoras and the Greeks, Penrose guides readers through the fundamentals--the incontrovertible bricks that hold up the fanciful mathematical structures of later chapters. From such theoretical delights as complex-number calculus, Riemann surfaces, and Clifford bundles, the tour takes us quickly on to the nature of spacetime. The bulk of the book is then devoted to quantum physics, cosmological theories (including Penrose's favored ideas about string theory and universal inflation), and what we know about how the universe is held together. For physicists, mathematicians, and advanced students, The Road to Reality is an essential field guide to the universe. For enthusiastic amateurs, the book is a project to tackle a bit at a time, one with unimaginable intellectual rewards. --Therese Littleton
Book Description
Roger Penrose, one of the most accomplished scientists of our time, presents the only comprehensive and comprehensible account of the physics of the universe. From the very first attempts by the Greeks to grapple with the complexities of our known world to the latest application of infinity in physics, The Road to Reality carefully explores the movement of the smallest atomic particles and reaches into the vastness of intergalactic space. Here, Penrose examines the mathematical foundations of the physical universe, exposing the underlying beauty of physics and giving us one the most important works in modern science writing.
Customer Reviews:
Really good!.......2007-09-19
If you are mad about science that a book you MUST have. I am an electrical engineer and at least 60% of the book had new contents for me so.... READ IT!
The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe.......2007-09-04
This is a book over one 1000 pages! My daughter asked me: Is the road to reality indeed so long? We both laught...and after a while I braged about it: With Roger Penrose help, the 1000 pages road to reality may be the shortest! However, I found out later on, that it may indeed be the shortest, but only if you have your own five stars shining above you...
Great to read, recommended to re-read.......2007-08-26
This is an excellent book, if you take the time to understand the material. In my opinion it is well worth the time reading every page.
Sir Roger is as Confused as the Rest of Us.......2007-08-15
Roger Penrose feels comfortable in his Platonic mathematical world and he recognizes how useful complex analysis is to quantum theory. But, like everyone else, he is at a loss to explain things just when they become interesting.
He cannot explain to his own satisfaction how that the universe came to be so specially ordered at the moment of the big bang. He cannot explain in a mathematically elegant way how or why that the wave function collapses upon an observation being made, with a new wave function being thus created. He seems mystified by complex numbers in a way that is reminds one of Pythagoras. He speaks in a gushy way about how "magical" they are. Nevertheless, he cannot even be sure that perfect circles or pi or straight lines exist in reality. He is Platonic, despite modern philosophy's rejection of Plato's theory of forms. He gingerly avoids any metaphysics and/or religion. And, he feels that one can learn about our universe by studying pristine mathematical models, despite the fact that R. Feynman and others have said that the only road to truth (the real road to reality) is through experimentation. Feynman wisely stated that he could calculate things very precisely, but he could not explain things in common sense, everyday terms. Are we really going to do better than him?
Perhaps things are as one physicist said " ..not only strange, but stranger than we can contemplate". We are physically not equipped to explain things.
A book with a message.......2007-07-11
Other reviews focus on whether the book is easy to understand or not, or wheter it is too big or not. And it would seem that
the only purpose of the book is to put all togheter the physical laws mankind knows.
But this is a book with a message. A message that takes very long to transmit and Penrose chose to start from the very begining.
A significant part of the physics as it is known today is exposed in a long (900 pages) preamble, but Penrose wants to tell
us that he believes that the road to the Theory of Everything that is standard in today's physics leads nowhere.
If you have read "The Emperor's new mind" you know that Penrose's ideas are not mainstream in today's physics. But if you are
interested in cutting edge physics you'll also know that there is a growing number of physicists that believe that the field is on crisis. Let me sumarize Penrose views:
- The standard interpretations of quantum mechanics are wrong. Even the decoherence approach.
- Infactionary cosmology cannot be right.
- Superstring theory is just a beautiful mathematical construction with no connection to the physical world. His point of view is similar to Smolin's ("The trouble with physics").
I'm not at all an expert on the field, although I studied quantum mechanics in the University, and I'd say that at least Penrose has a very strong point. He is not able to provide but hints of alternative theories but this does not lower the merit of the book.
He also explains standard areas of mathematics and physics such as complex number calculus, Maxwell fields or group theory in a non-conventional but brilliant way. For example, it includes a beautiful demonstration of Pythagoream theorem. The chapter about the standard model of particle physics is particularly helpful; nowhere else can be found a concise and understable explanation of it.
And yes, the book is difficult, but if you don't understand the mathematics, just keep reading.
Book Description
Contains a wealth of topics to allow instructors flexibility in the choice of topics and depth of coverage: Examines
projective motion with and without realistic air resistance. Discusses planetary motion and the three-body problem. Explores
chaotic motion of the pendulum and waves on a string. Includes topics relating to fractal growth and stochastic systems.
Offers examples on statistical physics and quantum mechanics. Contains ample explanations of the necessary algorithms
students need to help them write original programs, and provides many example programs and calculations for reference.
Customer Reviews:
great book.......2001-03-06
This is a great book. I enjoy reading and using it quite a bit. The focus is realistic simulations, not just simulations. Also, this book has a wide scope: there are sections covering random systems, molecular dynamics, even earthqakes and self-organized criticality. I suspect a second edition might even expand on these topics to include, oh perhaps economic simulations? But as it is it's a superb book. The style is even engaging; just enough theory (but indeed the right amount of it) and some pointed results... Where else would you go to find three-body gravitational simulations and protein folding and the brain as a complex system, in the same book? Note: there are code examples and the programming language is True Basic for the Macintosh. If that's not your cup of tea, it should not be too hard to port that to, say, Matlab or something more universal. Perhaps again for the second edition...
good book for physicists who like to write simulations.......2001-03-04
This is a great book to get you started using you desktop for more than running your screen saver or surfin' the net. Some sections are dealing with elementary physics but most deal with intermediate to even advanced topics. What's also great about this book is that the author doesn't assume you necessarily remember all of your undergrad physics. You're gently reminded of the key concepts and the bottom line you need to remember and then it's off to the good stuff. I liked this book quite a bit; it's really a great book. Unpretentious and striking the right balance between the theory necessary to write realistic or meaningful simulations. Overall I'd say the word superb applies here. Next edition: expand on stochastic processes a bit more, then you get 5 stars...
Average customer rating:
- An interesting, representative look into physics, computer science, math, and finance
- Engaging
- Shorting Sidhartha to ground
- An interesting career path
- good source of info for those who wonder what a quant is
|
My Life as a Quant: Reflections on Physics and Finance
Emanuel Derman
Manufacturer: Wiley
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ASIN: 0471394203 |
Book Description
Emanuel Derman was one of the first physicists to move to Wall Street, and his career paralleled the growth of quantitative trading over the past twenty years. In My Life as a Quant, he traces his transformation from ambitious young scientist to managing director and head of the renowned Quantitative Strategies group at Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Derman’s tale recounts his adventures with quants, traders and other high fliers on Wall Street as he became the best-known quant in the business. He describes the struggles of research and his interactions with an assorted cast of famous scientists. He relates his impressions of some of the most creative minds on Wall Street, including Fischer Black, with whom he collaborated on the widely used Black-Derman-Toy model of interest rates. Throughout his story he reflects on the appropriate way to apply the refined methods of physics to the hurly-burly world of markets and the people that inhabit them.
Download Description
Emanuel Derman was one of the first physicists to move to Wall Street, and his career paralleled the growth of quantitative trading over the past twenty years. In My Life as a Quant, he traces his transformation from ambitious young scientist to managing director and head of the renowned Quantitative Strategies group at Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Derman’s tale recounts his adventures with quants, traders and other high fliers on Wall Street as he became the best-known quant in the business. He describes the struggles of research and his interactions with an assorted cast of famous scientists. He relates his impressions of some of the most creative minds on Wall Street, including Fischer Black, with whom he collaborated on the widely used Black-Derman-Toy model of interest rates. Throughout his story he reflects on the appropriate way to apply the refined methods of physics to the hurly-burly world of markets and the people that inhabit them.
Customer Reviews:
An interesting, representative look into physics, computer science, math, and finance.......2007-08-18
This book is an easily readable and interesting look into the life of a financial engineer. Derman describes his life in relation to the history of modern physics and modern finance. He describes the route he took, from a student who wanted to research physics permanently to an enthusiastic programming newbie.
This book is sort of divided into four sections. First his early and student life. Then he ventures into the world of UNIX and computer science. As a computer programmer myself, I especially felt the joy he felt when he created a program to solve a small program that was commercialized and used by many other people. The satisfaction of small victories was quite apparent and mirrored my own life in some ways.
He then ventures into the world of finance in the mid 80s - during the boom time of financial engineering. His work from a naïve physicist to a financial wizard describes both the history of his career development and the quantitave finance itself. He ventures into new topics of finance, such as implied binomial trees and the such.
Sometimes the book does get bogged down into a little too much technical detail. I understood the finance and computer programming part perfectly because I've studied and worked in those fields, but the physics stuff was quite esoteric and I had a hard time following much of it.
All in all, it's a fun book. Nothing really spectacular, but to see the history of a new field being described, told by a pioneer, is quite fascinating.
Engaging.......2007-07-05
This is an engaging book which, I suspect, will be most interesting to those of us with more than a decade of experience in the financial technology field.
The book is appealing on many levels: the story of a physicist-turned-quant, the drama of professional life amongst the players in the fin-tech field, and the discussions of the mechanics of quantitative analysis, made accessible by Mr. Derman's plain-spoken writing style.
I don't read many books for pleasure, but I couldn't put this one down.
Shorting Sidhartha to ground.......2007-03-11
After reading Derman's Platonic idea of the origin of physics on the first two pages, I was so angry that for a while I couldn't read further. When finally I did read further, I couldn't put the book down until midnight. This autobiography of a physicist turned financial engineer is more entertaining than most novels, and is informative in a way that no other book is. Derman's description of his life and times is the chronicle of an era. This is a book that should be read by physics grad students who fantacize about working for banks or trading houses.
I remember how in 1957 we and our neighbors went out at night to watch Sputnik pass overhead as a pale, visibly moving light. This was the same year that Mercury had produced the 6 cyl. 60 h.p. outboard motor, Chevy produced its classic model, Elvis sang 'Loving You', and my youngest brother was born. Then, each morning before school, we would turn on the Today Show and often watch as a rocket from Redstone Arsenal (Huntsville) or Cape Canaveral went up a few meters, then fell over and crashed. Finally, von Braun (who'd escaped from Penemünde via Thüringen to North Tirol (where I mainly live) and then engineered his capture by the U.S. rather than the Russians or the French) eventually got it right and launched too, but not before Americans were treated to huge, Life Magazine photos of Chicago teenagers jitterbugging their lives away, and of Russian teenagers intensely studying math and physics. The US reaction to Sputnik was in part the NDEA loans that got me and a lot of other science majors through the university, and produced a very large excess supply of physics Ph.D.s by about 1970. In the seventies, academic jobs in physics in the US were so few, and the competition so great, that it was the kiss of death to take a postdoctoral fellowship in Europe. Going there put you outside the loop. One could generalize a British postdoc's experience after his arrival at Cal Tech in the following way: the US was the center of the universe in physics, and to a first approximation Europe did not exist. In the early eighties I noticed that a former physics grad student in nonlinear dynamics had been hired by a trading house. I didn't understand the significance then. Eventually, one of my later to be closest collaborators (and is Feigenbaum's only grad student to boot) worked for a year in 1990 at a Chicago trading house before coming to the University of Houston. In 1999, the same year that I heard of the Physics and finance meeting in Dublin where Gene Stanley coined the awful but effective term 'Econophysics', I read that Mitch Feigenbaum and Nigel Goldenfeld had opened a derivatives-related business in New York. Derman was one of the first physicists to go to work as a modeler on Wall Street. Derman's book, written humorously, self-deprecatingly and introspectively, yet objectively, is a chronicle of that era, a chronicle of physics and job hunting by physics grads in the post-Vietman war era, the era that began with Nixon's deregulation of the dollar (tied to gold at $35/oz. from 1935-1971, gold that Americans were not permitted to own for reasons of attempted currency stability). I'll stop here with my introduction and recommend that anyone who really wants to understand something about the world financial system read Eichengreen's `Globalizing Capital'. Here are some comments about parts of the book that I liked particularly well, or particularly disliked. The book can be read as a useful complement to `The Predictors', Liar's Poker', and `Inventing Money'.
The platonic view of the origin of mathematical laws of nature expressed on the first two pages is wrong. One can understand how a theorist with a focus on gauge theories might get on that track, but it is not true that Einstein thought that way in his early discoveries. For a better picture of why mathematics is unreasonably effective in physics, read Wigner's `Symmetries and Reflections', and read Barbour's `Absolute or Relative Motion' for the history of the discoveries.
The difference between physics (academic research) and financial engineering (on the Street) is described pretty well. In the latter, a good graphics interface is more important for business than is a good model. The description of the difference is generally true of physics and engineering per se, and is not peculiar to the financial brand.
The description of reductionism is the extreme brand believed uncritically by people like Steven Weinberg. Any correct mathematical description of nature, any isolation of cause and effect, is a form of reductionism. Attempts to understand markets empirically is a form of reductionism.
The description of Lee and Yang's quarrels is revealing (both visited the University of Houston Physics Dept. at various times in the seventies and eighties). The description of Cvitanovic rings too true! I was not aware (!?) that Feigenbaum and Libchaber (name misspelled) like Steiner's writings, although it's fairly well known that Feigenbaum reads Goethe.
Derman describes vividly how no one can get past T.D. Lee in a colloquium, then with British understatement writes that his own thesis defense, with Lee on the committee, was no problem. And his advice to students about blind alleys and perseverance is correct. The race is often won not by the quickest but rather by the one who doesn't quit in the face of adversity.
The author had a tantalizing taste early on of the life of the successful (i.e., well-connected) physicist on the conference circuit. I myself read too many biographies of German professors who took a Kur for 6 weeks on the Baltic or the North Sea.
His description of life at Oxford, and the string of postdoctoral positions is believable and hilarious. The description of the pain of having to live apart from his wife and son is painful to read, although many physicists live so.
Derman also describes what makes physicists arrogant without naming it: life in a scientific culture where the standards are set by certified geniuses. It's hard to live in the shadow of these people. One learns a certain degree of arrogance merely for survival in the culture, and that makes us hard to live with at home and in society. Advice from a bright colleague how to get along with your partner: 'grovel, grovel, grovel'. It works.
His advice about publications is absolutely right: it rarely hurts to put a collaborator's, host's or advisor's name on a paper. I contemplated publishing my thesis alone because Onsager had not really contributed to it, although he suggested the problem. Actually, I doubted that he wanted his name on such a seemingly trivial piece of work, but it turned out that he liked it and did want his name on the papers. He liked all sorts of calculations. As long as they were right ....
There is no correct analogy between economics/finance and thermodynamics, the far from equilibrium nature of markets prohibits it. Fischer Black, whom I admire enormously and have read carefully, was wrong about 'equilibrium': he swallowed the economists' notions uncritically (Derman describes Black as 'in love' with the idea of equilibrium, and one can swallow anything when one is in love). CAPM is certainly not an 'equilibrium' model, and CAPM does not lead to the Black-Scholes pde, there's an error in the 1973 paper. I prefer the Black-Scholes paper to all of Merton's useless rigmarole about utility, a nonfalsifiable notion at best, although it's true that replication is not in the Black-Scholes paper. I can't see that Merton's derivation of the backward time pde is 'more rigorous' than Black's delta-hedge condition.
Derman's description of his self-imposed exile to Bell Labs is hilarious. His loving description of UNIX is beyond me (I know how to use a word processor).
Weltanschauung is mis-spelled, there are n+1 split infinitives in the text.
Now I know where Lisa Borland's boss comes from.
The description of Fischer Black is worth the book alone, even if the rest were not good. Osborne, Black, and Mandelbrot can be counted as the ancestors of Econophysics, which differs from Financial Engineering the way that physics differs from engineering. Black was right that expected returns, seen as anticipating the future, is not an observable notion. But, then, what does Soros do when he beats the market (nonmathematically)?
Derman's description of economic theory as nonsense (my term) is absolutely correct, when applied to micro- and macro-economics texts. What one finds inside those books is useless, falsified mathematized ideology. To make matters worse, economists know that and still teach the stuff in the classroom, misleading generations of students.
All in all, this is a highly recommendable book!
An interesting career path.......2006-12-11
This book is not for those interested in learning quantitative finance. Rather, it is a memoir written by a physicist who came to finance relatively late in life.
There is some poignancy in Derman's transformation from theoretical physicist bent on a life in academia (where he hoped to make groundbreaking discoveries about elementary particles) to mid-level employee of one of the world's great financial institutions (Goldman Sachs). Although he was undoubtedly well paid for the skills he brought to the financial markets, Derman's story is tinged with sadness about the loss of an ideal.
The book is particularly valuable for the insights it provides about the inner workings of a major investment bank, and in particular about the role played by the "quants" in the development of new products and trading strategies. It also provides some perspective on the development of quantitative finance as a practical discipline; and it makes clear that quantitative skills, while important to a successful career in a major financial institution, generally take a back seat to salesmanship, practical trading skills, and internal politicking.
Those with a liking for pure mathematics will have to grin and bear Derman's critical comments about mathematical rigor and economic theory.
good source of info for those who wonder what a quant is.......2006-11-13
Mr. Derman took the reader along with his journey from theorectical physics to financial modeling. The later chapters provide simple to understand explanations of what he did at Goldman Sachs to model bond options. No knowledge of advance mathematics required. One shudders when one realizes that models are formed usually after the fact. Today trillion of dollars are traded based on imperfect models. What if ... there was a flaw in the model?
Book Description
This market leading text is known for its comprehensive coverage, careful and correct mathematics, outstanding exercises and self contained subject matter parts for maximum flexibility.
Thoroughly updated and streamlined to reflect new developments in the field, the ninth edition of this bestselling text features modern engineering applications and the uses of technology. Kreyszig introduces engineers and computer scientists to advanced math topics as they relate to practical problems. The material is arranged into seven independent parts: ODE; Linear Algebra, Vector Calculus; Fourier Analysis and Partial Differential Equations; Complex Analysis; Numerical methods; Optimization, graphs; and Probability and Statistics.
Customer Reviews:
How could you possibly think this is helpful?.......2007-09-14
I took one look at this supposed solutions manual and knew it would be worthless. The book for accompanying this is pretty bad too, so why should I expect to get a decent solutions manual. This is a broad broad overview of each section and has maybe three actual solutions worked out if you're lucky. I get so sick of these authors doing the least amount of work for people that are really trying to learn this stuff. Unfortunately I will have to find help elsewhere. Also, if you want to review the book review it on the book page not on the solutions manual page.
Non Fiction.......2007-09-03
One of those bloodsucking drain the students dry of cash evil bastich series of textbooks. Some useful information, but probably up to version 27 of its cash gathering exercise by now. Exactly what textbooks should not be, a prime example of a RIP OFF, if there ever was one.
Not worth the money.......2007-07-16
This book was a major disappointment. Having taken 15 yrs off between getting my BS and starting grad school, I was looking for detailed examples of how to solve problems to refresh my memory. The solutions in this book skipped several steps and proved to be only marginally helpful, if even that. If you don't clearly understand the real text book, you won't get much help from this "solutions" manual. As in the text, there are not enough examples in this manual either. There is not even an example representing each subset of problems in the back of each chapter. Don't waste your money.
Owner of Advanced Eng Mathmatics, 9th edition.......2007-06-01
The student manual has been very helpful in getting me started back into the engineering mathmatics. It is nice to have a helper when I get stumped on some of the problems I know should be easy.
review on my book.......2007-05-07
I am satisfied with the quality of the book and the time it took for the book to reach me.
Book Description
Presenting an introduction to the mathematics of modern physics for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, this textbook introduces the reader to modern mathematical thinking within a physics context. Topics covered include tensor algebra, differential geometry, topology, Lie groups and Lie algebras, distribution theory, fundamental analysis and Hilbert spaces. The book also includes exercises and proofed examples to test the students' understanding of the various concepts, as well as to extend the text's themes.
Customer Reviews:
A fast introduction to mathematics in physics.......2006-01-02
The book does not assume prior knowledge of the topics covered. However, the reader will find use of prior knowledge in algebra, in particular group theory, and topology. Compared to texts, such as Arfken Weber, Mathematical Methods for Physics, A Course in Modern Mathematical Physics is different, and emphasis is on proof and theory. The text is reasonably rigorous and build around stating theorems, giving the proofs and lemmas with occasional examples. The style is not the strictest, although making the text more reader friendly, it is easy to get confused with which assumptions have been made, and the direction of the proof. Sometimes only the "if" part is proven.
Students familiar with algebra will notice that the emphasis is on group theory, interestingly the concept of ideals is left mostly untouched. For more on representation theory a good reference is Groups Representations and Physics by H.F. Jones where solutions to some of the exercises can be found, and examples of the use of the fundamental orthogonality theorem applied to characters of represenations.
The first 6 chapters are relatively straight forward, but in chapter 7 Tensors the text becomes much more advanced and difficult. Chapter 10 on topology offers some lighter material but the reader should be careful, these consepts are to re-appear in the discussion of differential geometry, differentiable forms, integration on manifolds and curvature. These are not the most simple subjects and it is clear that they deserve entire courses of their own.
The book has insight and makes many good remarks. However, chapter 15 on Differential Geometry is perhaps too brief considering the importance of understanding this material, which is applied in the chapters thereinafter. The book is suitable for second to third year student in theoretical physics.
Jumping over the Gap.......2005-12-30
Most physicists avoid mathematical formalism, the book attacks this by exposing mathematical structures, the best approach I've ever experience. After reading the first chapter of this books I can assure is a must for everyone lacking mathematical formation undergraduate or graduate.
It surely jumps over this technical gap experienced by most physics opening the gate for advanced books an mathematical thinking with physic intuition.
Unfortunately is very expensive, i hope i could have it some day.
A serious, wide spectrum introduction to modern mathematical physics.......2005-10-10
This book covers almost every subject one needs to begin a serious graduate study in mathematical and/or theoretical physics. The language is clear, objective and the concepts are presented in a well organized and logical order. This book can be regarded as a solid preparation for further reading such as the works of Reed/Simon, Bratteli/Robinson or Nakahara.
Not a review, only a little more information.......2004-12-11
Since I don't yet have this book, I cannot review it; however, I have found the contents of this book on the publisher's web site in case it would help anyone decide to purchase it or not.
Contents
Preface
1. Sets and structures
2. Groups
3. Vector spaces
4. Linear operators and matrices
5. Inner product spaces
6. Algebras
7. Tensors
8. Exterior algebra
9. Special relativity
10. Topology
11. Measure theory and integration
12. Distributions
13. Hilbert space
14. Quantum theory
15. Differential geometry
16. Differentiable forms
17. Integration on manifolds
18. Connections and curvature
19. Lie groups and lie algebras
I will return at a later date to properly review it in case I need to change the rating I gave it.
Book Description
String theory is one of the most exciting and challenging areas of modern theoretical physics. This book guides the reader from the basics of string theory to recent developments. It introduces the basics of perturbative string theory, world-sheet supersymmetry, space-time supersymmetry, conformal field theory and the heterotic string, before describing modern developments, including D-branes, string dualities and M-theory. It then covers string geometry and flux compactifications, applications to cosmology and particle physics, black holes in string theory and M-theory, and the microscopic origin of black-hole entropy. It concludes with Matrix theory, the AdS/CFT duality and its generalizations. This book is ideal for graduate students and researchers in modern string theory, and will make an excellent textbook for a one-year course on string theory. It contains over 120 exercises with solutions, and over 200 homework problems with solutions available on a password protected website for lecturers at www.cambridge.org/9780521860697.
Customer Reviews:
A good general introduction.......2007-04-22
String theory has been criticized since it was first invented but not to the degree that it has now, this criticism mostly focusing on its failure to connect with observation. The criticism has increased dramatically in recent years however, and some of this has been too vituperative to be useful to those curious about string theory as a viable physical theory. But criticism, however harsh, can be healthy, since it motivates the proponents of a theory to more carefully elucidate its foundations and content. This is usually not the case when a theory is popular, as researchers are in a competitive spirit and are hesitant to share the knowledge to possible competitors. At this stage in the game however, string theorists it seems are now on the defensive, and have thus taken the time to discuss in-depth what this reviewer still believes is the most complex and beautiful theory ever constructed in mathematical physics. String theory still has a long way to go before it gains status as being a physical theory, but hopefully by the end of the next few decades one will see the appearance of charts, graphs, and numerical calculations in books on string theory, much like one finds in the most successful of all physical theories to date: relativistic quantum field theory.
Some highlights in the book that are particularly insightful include:
1. The observation that Dirichlet boundary conditions (for the open string) break Poincare invariance, but that this leads to the introduction of Dp-branes as positions of the endpoints of the open string. Poincare invariance is recovered as long as Dp-brane is space filling, i.e. has a dimension one less than the background spacetime.
2. The view that the BRST quantization of the path integral is really a conformal field theory. This is interesting in that BRST analysis is typically thought of as a procedure for quantizing constrained systems (gauge theories being predominant examples).
3. The `Myers effect'. Sometimes referred to as the `D-brane dielectric effect', it is part of an attempt to understand the physics of non-Abelian D-branes for strong fields. One of the challenges in this understanding involves the validity of the Dirac-Born-Infeld action in these kinds of circumstances, which as the authors remark is designed for situations where the background fields and world-volume gauge fields do not vary appreciably over the distances on the order of the string scale.
4. The origin of the (classical) Virasoro algebra as the freedom of choice of gauge in the reparametrization symmetry. And along these same lines, the quantization of the Virasoro algebra is defined to the normal ordering of the Virasoro generators, and their commutators give an expression consisting of the ordinary classical term plus a "quantum" correction, the famous central extension. Thus the quantum Virasoro algebra can be viewed as a "quantum deformation" of the classical Virasoro algebra, with the central parameter as being the deformation parameter. This philosophy of deformation has found generalization in what are now called `quantum groups' (even though strictly speaking they are much more complicated objects than ordinary groups).
5. The connection of the dilaton to the Euler characteristic.
6. The role of the GSO projection in insuring consistency in the state spectrum.
7. The use of (vector bundle) K-theory to classify D-brane charges. This use arises when it is realized that the conserved R-R charges cannot be identified with cohomology classes of gauge field configurations. Instead, the D-branes are classified by K-theory classes.
8. The discussion on `primitive cohomology' and its relation to de Rham cohomology and Hodge theory.
9. The role of the Born-Infeld structure in ensuring Lorentz invariance of the T-dual description. The Born-Infeld action was once viewed as a mere historical curiosity, namely as a nonlinear generalization of the Maxwell theory, with no experimental backing. That it finds such a natural place in string theory is very interesting (but still of course lacking in experimental support).
10. The derivation of a lower bound for Newton's constant from heterotic M-theory, which is close to the observed value.
11. The argument, beautifully elucidated in this book, that type IIA supergravity may be obtained from 11-dimensional supergravity by dimensional reduction.
12. The discussion on warped space-times and the gauge hierarchy. The authors cleverly motivate this subject by asking why Newtonian gravity follows an inverse-square law rather than an inverse-cube law.
13. An entire chapter is devoted to "stringy" geometry, which is a fascinating subject given that it touches so many areas of modern mathematics.
14. The discussion of the `hidden sector' and its conjectured relation to dark matter and supersymmetry breaking.
15. The author's treatment of the AdS/CFT conjecture is superb and is by far the most interesting part of the book. The dualities shown to exists between gauge theory and string theory are a possible route to a full understanding of nonperturbative quantum chromodynamics, which to this date has defied resolution.
Some major omissions or discussions that need more elaboration include:
1. The difficulties that are actually involved in quantizing the Nambu-Goto action. The authors remark that this is due to the presence of the square root, but it would have been interesting if they would have indicated just where the trouble rises explicitly when a quantization procedure is attempted with the Nambu-Goto action. In ordinary quantum field theory, the presence of the square root is interpreted as a "nonlocal" problem, but even there this issue is not usually dealt with in a manner that is very transparent.
2. A more detailed treatment of string field theory for those readers who want to compare it to what is done in second quantization in ordinary quantum field theory.
3. The role of the Beltrami differentials in the attaining of a measure for moduli space that is invariant under reparametrizations of the moduli space.
4. No in-depth discussion of characteristic classes over and above the algebra involved in their manipulation (i.e. the wedge products). An understanding of characteristic classes is crucial to understanding superstring and brane theory, but the pages of this book mislead the unsuspecting reader that there is nothing to characteristic classes except algebraic manipulation of the differential forms. But characteristic classes have a deep geometrical meaning, and obtaining insight into this meaning has been proven to be difficult for students of string theory. This book does not provide any of this insight, nor do any of the other books currently in print on string theory.
5. Is supersymmetry absolutely necessary for the incorporation of fermions into string theory? The authors seem to argue that it is, but an explicit proof is lacking.
6. The proof that `threshold bound states' are stable is omitted, disappointing the more mathematically sophisticated reader. As the authors remark, the proof involves a special type of index theory involving non-Fredholm operators, and where one must deal with a continuous spectrum. The usual index theory breaks down since one is only dealing with elliptic operators, and contributions to the index from bosons and fermions do not necessarily have to be integers.
7. The authors should have included more discussion on mirror symmetry, beautiful subject that it is.
8. Dp-branes are asserted to be useful in incorporating non-Abelian gauge symmetries in string theory, in that they appear "naturally" as confined to world volumes of multiply-coincident Dp-branes. But is this the best way to introduce these symmetries? Is there a method, other than this one and `compactification', that is just as "natural" and does not have the contrived element that the introduction of Dp-branes sometimes has?
9. The authors need to elaborate in more detail on the definition of "stable" and "unstable" D-brane.
10. The omitting of the proof that string theories are ultraviolet finite theories of quantum gravity. This is by far the most serious omission in the book. This reviewer does not know of a reference that proves this assertion, and many in the physics community have pointed to this omission as being a sign that the string theory research community has been misled by false assertions of proof.
Excellent Book.......2007-03-11
I think this is a great book that provides not only a great introduction to string theory (there is no assumed prior knowledge of string theory), but also provides coverage of many more advanced topics as well. I think it's likely that the vast majority of students specializing in string theory will want to read it at some point in their studies.
The coverage of topics in the first few chapters is in some ways fairly standard. The first two chapters consists of a high level overview of string theory, bosonic string, the Nambu-Goto action the Polyakov action, the Virasoro algebra, the critical dimension, light code gauge and the spectra of open/closed strings. After this there is a chapter on conformal field theory, naturally emphasizing the parts relevant to string theory (including a bit of string field theory). This is followed by discussions of worldsheet supersymmetry, spacetime supersymmetry, anomalies, T-duality and heterotic strings. The writing is very clear and considering the nature of the material, fairly straight forward. There are two things that I considered exceptional strengths. One is that the discussions incorporate D-branes, M-theory and the (unexpected) symmetries of string theory early on. The other is that there are numerous worked examples, as there are throughout the book.
At a very high level the rest of the book contains more extensive discussions of M-theory, compactification (including a substantial amount besides the standard approach of the compact dimensions being a Calabi-Yau space), mirror symmetry, S-duality, possible cosmological consequences of string theory, black holes and other solutions with horizons, matrix theory, AdS/CFT correspondence (a proposed equivalence between closed string solutions on the product of a sphere and anti-deSitter space and Yang-Mills theories) and the holographic principle (or as some would say conjecture).
The things I appreciated the most about this material was that is was a very interesting mix of topics. The discussion of black holes and cosmology was fairly extensive (for cosmology it was the most extensive I've seen in a text book). As was the coverage of the AdS/CFT correspondence. There were also some topics that I don't recall seeing in other string theory books, such as warped geometries in compactification and S-branes (these are like D-branes but they satisfy Dirichlet boundary conditions in timelike directions).
Needless to say it's a fairly advanced book. There is some coverage of things like complex spaces, topology, general relativity and cosmology. However this material is more along the lines of a review, not something intended to teach from first principles (some of the other string theory books cover this kind material in more detail).
All-in-all I believe this book not only provides a great introduction, it also provides an excellent treatment of some of the more advanced topics in string theory.
Best of All Worlds.......2007-03-09
This new textbook on string theory might be considered a modern pimped up version of Zwiebach's introductory course. The book is - as an introduction - better than the 2-volume set by Schwarz (Green, Schwarz, Witten), which is partly outdated, and on the same footing as Polchinski's version, but certainly not as thorough and elaborate. There is some overlap between all books (e.g. the CFT bits from Polchinski are quite similar to those in this new text, the introduction of the bosonic string via the relativistic point particle looks like the ones by Polchinski and Zwiebach, but Becker & Schwarz immediately generalise the concept to p-branes, SCFTs are discussed in a similar manner as in Polchinski, and so on), but there are additional features that really add to the value of the book: all exercises within the text have solutions directly under them, so one can either try to solve them or read them through, and some parts are explained more clearly. The concepts of "(gauge) symmetries" are discussed slightly better than by Polchsinki or GSW, but for those who want mathematical proofs instead of hand-waving arguments, and more background material on supersymmetry, I can only say that I have found no books on string theory that really do that. Both are subjects of study on their own and would go "beyond the scope" of these books... Nevertheless, a very good introduction and most of all: up to date!
For mid-undergraduates, I think, the perfect sequence for string theory would be (provided one acquires knowledge of QFT and Lie algebras for the more advanced texts):
Zwiebach>Becker/Schwarz>Polchinski (supplemented by GSW's first volume)
But if you want to learn string theory more quickly or if you don't have problems with the very basics, then leave out Zwiebach and go for this one immediately. For graduates, Polchinski should be the start, but one can take Backer/Schwarz always as a references and supplement on some topics (connection to black holes and gauge theories).
A Modern Fairytale.......2007-01-30
This is a fabulous excursion into a world inhabited by all sorts of mythical creatures: Calabi-Yau 3-folds, D-branes, orbifolds, ten and eleven-dimensional backgrounds, supersymmetric partners, covariant fermionic vertex operators and many others that only the wildest imaginations can conceive of. The wizards and magicians who have conjured these beasts have also cast a powerful spell on their easily-beguiled followers who see streets of gold and emerald trees as they walk through the morass of E8*E8 gauge fields, compactifications and dualities. This tome will be a welcome addition to your bookshelf right between Harry Potter and Alice in Wonderland. I gladly recommend each of you to take a brief stroll into this enchanted land to be followed by the volumes of Landau and Lifchitz, so that you will be able to find your way back to reality again. Some have called strings "a theory of anything". Indeed, it is a wonderful place where you can make all your wishes come true. But do not stay too long in the kingdom of string theory lest you end up like so many others who are lost, searching endlessly for the legendary realms of M-theory or wandering aimlessly in the infinite labyrinth of the Landscape, wasting the remaining years of their life on naught but a fable.
Most up-to-date string theory tome published this year........2007-01-24
This volume was authored by one of the most respected researchers in the field, as well as the Becker sisters. It is beautifully illustrated, and is well timed for upcomming experimental tests of superstring theory at the Large Hadron collider. I did not give if five starts because it only devoted four pages to the Landscape, which professor Susskind, the father of string theory, has declared the most significant advance in physics in the past century.
Book Description
Now in its third edition, Mathematical Concepts in the Physical Sciences provides a comprehensive introduction to the areas of mathematical physics. It combines all the essential math concepts into one compact, clearly written reference.
Customer Reviews:
required for class.......2007-09-25
Boas does an excellent job presenting the new mathematical material presented in this text. The general example problems are good in the fact that they show the workings and system of the new material while giving you an understanding as well. I read the section, work out the examples and then know how to do the problems. This book is required for my theoretical physics class and is worth every penny.
Great reference text.......2007-09-14
As an undergraduate physics major I'm required to take a course in math methods of physics, and Boas is the required text. Not only did I save money by purchasing online, but this book is FANTASTIC. The text itself support the arguments we cover in class, but the book knows no bounds. In my other physics and math courses I've already looked up topics and found a complete and easily understood explanations. I'm definitely not selling this one after the course is over.
Fantastic, Self-Teachable, The Best.......2007-07-27
The single best book available for a person to learn math for the sciences. I taught myself most everything in this book readily; it is incredibly well written to introduce the subject to anyone. It is also comprehensive, and very useful for any scientist. This is written as a graduate physicist, recommended to anyone who has taken Calculus II.
The only book that ties it is Glenn Fletcher's book.
An excellent book for those who need applied mathematics........2007-04-23
This is an excellent book for undergraduates in science and engineering. This book is not for mathematics majors. So anyone who complains about the proofs or lack of rigor is off target. You are not the intended audience.
I include the chapter titles below since they indicate the coveraqe of the book.
1. Infinite series, power series
2. Complex numbers
3. Linear algebra
4. Partial differentiation
5. Multiple integrals
6. Vector analysis
7. Fourier series and transforms
8. Ordinary differential equations
9. Calculus of variations
10. Tensor analysis
11. Special functions
12. Series solutions of differential equations, legendre, bessel, hermite, and laguerre functions
13. Partial differential equations
14. Functions of a complex variable
15. Probability and statistics
Enjoy!
great book.......2007-04-22
This book is great as a crash course in alot of math that appears in physics. The material is very well explained, doesnt use alot of baffeling notation, gets straight to the point, and is completely self contained. I have learned alot from this book and I reccomend it highly.
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