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The Structures of Mathematical Physics

An Introduction

  • Textbook
  • © 2021

Overview

  • Unique presentation suitable for both undergraduate and beginning graduate students in physics and mathematics
  • Emphasizes narration, worked examples and applications rather than formal mathematical proofs
  • Excellent for self-study, with a guide to further reading in each chapter

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

Keywords

About this book

This textbook serves as an introduction to groups, rings, fields, vector and tensor spaces, algebras, topological spaces, differentiable manifolds and Lie groups --- mathematical structures which are foundational to modern theoretical physics. It is aimed primarily at undergraduate students in physics and mathematics with no previous background in these topics. Applications to physics --- such as the metric tensor of special relativity, the symplectic structures associated with Hamilton's equations and the Generalized Stokes's Theorem --- appear at appropriate places in the text. Worked examples, end-of-chapter problems (many with hints and some with answers) and guides to further reading make this an excellent book for self-study. Upon completing this book the reader will be well prepared to delve more deeply into advanced texts and specialized monographs in theoretical physics or mathematics.




Reviews

“This text approaches the reader with shocking breadth and niggardly depth. … Around each definition, there is short---and pleasant---narrative and then a number of examples are described. Chapters end with a list of straightforward exercises … . As a stand-alone mathematical dictionary, the text under review may serve a purpose … .” (Ryan Grady, MAA Reviews, January 30, 2022)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Physics, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, USA

    Steven P. Starkovich

About the author

Steven P. Starkovich is Associate Professor Emeritus of Physics at Pacific Lutheran University, where he served for seven years as Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs. His 20 years of classroom teaching spanned the entire undergraduate physics curriculum. He received his PhD in Physics from the University of Victoria in British Columbia, specializing in general relativity and cosmology.

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