The Functions of Mathematical Physics

By Harry Hochstadt

Book Overview

A modern classic, this clearly written, incisive textbook provides a comprehensive, detailed survey of the functions of mathematical physics, a field of study straddling the somewhat artificial... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471401706
• ISBN13: 9780471401704
• Release Date: January 1971
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Length: 333 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Well-written coverage of special functions

This is a well-written book, but it is not introductory at all. I wouldn't recommend this unless you are looking for a cohesive and unique book to bring your existing understanding to the next level. There are several sections that I have never seen elsewhere or at least not in this form, including the use of hypergeometric functions in conformal mapping or using these same functions to derive integral expressions from differential equations. Rather than being a catalog of relationships, as many special function books tend to be, this book works its way along building concepts through unique applications and perspectives, in a non-traditional manner. If you just are seeking a book to look up relationships and formulas between types of functions and integrals, go get Abramowitz & Stegun or Andrews. This book will be interesting if you have had the traditional treatment of special functions already, but it could be confusing as a first exposure to special functions. If you are looking for some more depth to your understanding of special functions and in particular hypergeometric functions (regular and confluent), this is a highly recommended book. Too bad it is out of print, but you can probably find a used Dover paperback somewhere.

Generally good but a minor mistakes occurs

This is a good concise book concerning with those functions relevant to physical applications. However, there is a mistkake at page 61 about the defintion of Gamma fuctions. In fact the second defintion is also due to Euler, and not Gauss. Gauss's one is the Factorial fuction. I hope in the future if the book is revised, this mistake can be corrected.Another mistake (probably printing mistake ) occurs in page 62,line six. uk should be equal to I/k - ln(k+1/k ).

A Special Functions Introduction.

This is a very nice introduction to special functions, which historically have seen important applications in Physics and Applied Mathematics.Functions and Equations studied include: Orthogonal Polynomials, Gamma Function, Hypergeometric Functions, Legendre Polynomials, Bessel Functions, Hill Equation.I would recommend this book to 2 kinds of people: a) Students of Physics and Applied Math; b) Students of PURE mathematics, who having completed studying a first rigorous course in Real Anaysis, PLUS a course in Complex Analysis [Holomorphic Functions, Conformal Mapping, Analytic Continuations, etc] , want to apply whatever analytical agility they will have acquired. This sort of person will find herself applying a lot of the analysis she has learned.