Schaum's Outline of Mathematics for Physics Students (Schaum's Outlines)

This review moves along. fast and furiously. Takes you into the math of science rapidly and thoroughly.

A very good reference book. Great examples and well explained.

This book is a pretty good review of undergraduate college mathematics through differential equations. It stays on a pretty elementary level. Two-thirds of the book is dedicated to precalculus topics and calculus involving single variable functions. The last section of the book squeezes multi-variable calculus, differential equations, and even vector calculus into just a few chapters. The problems are unique - they are pretty useful at showing how you use the various types of math reviewed to work some physics problems. However, if you are looking for a more advanced math tutorial aimed at physics students I suggest "The Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics" by Byron. That book includes discussions and problems on the theory of vector spaces, analytic function theory, Green's function method of solving ODE's and PDE's, and the theory of groups. Plus the price is low at between ten and twenty dollars depending on whether you get it used or new, making it comparable in price to this book. However, if you feel you are not up to conquering Byron's book, this outline would be an excellent warm-up for it. The following is the table of contents for this Schaum's outline, since at the time I am writing this the contents are not yet shown.Part I: Algebra and GeometryChapter 1: Introduction to AlgebraChapter 2: FunctionsChapter 3: Graphs of FunctionsChapter 4: Linear EquationsChapter 5: Simultaneous Linear EquationsChapter 6: Quadratic Functions and EquationsChapter 7: InequalitiesChapter 8: The Locus of an EquationChapter 9: The Straight LineChapter 10: Families of Straight LinesChapter 11: The CirclePart II: Pre-Calculus and Elementary CalculusChapter 12: Rational and Polynomial FunctionsChapter 13: Trigonometric FunctionsChapter 14: Exponential and Logarithmic FunctionsChapter 15: Complex NumbersChapter 16: The Calculus of Single-Variable Functions: A Mathematical ApproachChapter 17: The Calculus of Single-Variable Functions: A Physics ApproachChapter 18: VectorsPart III: Advanced Topics in MathematicsChapter 19: Polar, Spherical, and Cylindrical Coordinate SystemsChapter 20: Multivariate CalculusChapter 21: Elementary Linear AlgebraChapter 22: Vector Calculus: Grad, Div, and CurlChapter 23: Vector Calculus: Flux and Gauss' LawChapter 24: Differential EquationsChapter 25: Elementary ProbabilityChapter 26: Infinite SeriesAPPENDIX A: RECTANGULAR COORDINATES IN SPACEAPPENDIX B: UNITS AND DIMENSIONSAPPENDIX C: SOLVING PHYSICS PROBLEMSAPPENDIX D: SELECTED PHYSICS FORMULASAPPENDIX E: SELECTED PHYSICAL CONSTANTSAPPENDIX F: INTEGRATION BY PARTSAPPENDIX G: THE GREEK ALPHABET AND PREFIXES

First, please note that I am giving this five stars because Schaum's is first rate, they are miles ahead of everyone in this category of books. I have not seen THIS book, only the other eighteen or nineteen volumes of Schaum's I own.It seems that McGraw-Hill has dropped the ball big time. Amazon needs to clean up this particular item and how it's listed.In 2007 the published a 1st edition "Schaum's Outline of Mathematics for Physics Students".In 2011 they RE-published another 1st edition with exactly the same title, and the same authors.It is in fact two different books, with exactly the same title, and exactly the same authors.Is the 2011 edition any good? No one has reviewed IT yet. The only reviews were written in 2007.Be sure to check the covers & copyright dates. That's the best way to tell the difference.

This may or may not be an OK book. It certainly didn't cost much. BUT if any of you are Physics majors, this is not the book you want for a Math Methods course! The book starts with a basic review of Algebra I then goes into a very watered-down Trigonometry review and then finally touches on the "Advanced Topics in Mathematics" part - but only includes the ever-so-short intro. to linear algebra, almost nothing on differential equations or sequences and series, and the probability is middle-school level. I am so disappointed because I saw "Polar, spherical, and cylindrical coordinates" and really thought it would be the book to help me study for my Math Methods course! However, I can see this book maybe being useful if you are taking algebra-based physics for the first time and want to brush up on your math skills a little bit.

I'm a freshman collage student who has returned to school after nearly 20 years. These books have made all the difference in my physics and calculus classes.

This book is rife with mathematical errors, both in the text and in the solved problems or their answers. I skipped over many of the problems in the first half of the book and still encountered an error every few pages. In the second half of the book, there are many parts that have a mathematical error on every page, sometimes more than one error per page. If you already know the math you can spot the errors, but if you haven't already taken classes in the math this book is about, it will lead you astray and confuse you badly. Most of the errors are in the answers to problems, and if you can use Maple or Mathematica you can find out the correct answer, though it's a terrific waste of time. But there are also serious factual (mathematical) errors in the text itself. These are probably typos; there are other errors and style inconsistencies that make me think the book has not been proofread even cursorily.I emailed McGraw-Hill about this. When I first wrote this review, I had not received a reply from them after waiting almost two weeks. However, after 2 1/2 weeks, I did receive a reply from an editor apologizing, informing me that they were going to contact the authors to "rectify every error" for the next reprint, offering a refund of my purchase price, and thanking me for informing them.Better late than never, and I'm much more inclined to consider Schaum books in the future now. If I eventually find a newer printing on the shelves, I'll check a few of the errors I know about and update this review as to whether they were corrected.