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Mathematical methods of physics

Article  in  Proceedings of the IEEE · April 1965

DOI: 10.1109/PROC.1965.3740 · Source: IEEE Xplore

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1965 Books
knowledge abouttheD-region:“Wenote Certainly an introduction to group theoryis
the
marked difference [in collision fre- long overdue in these sortof books. In addi- fense has enabled the author toutilize more
quency vs height between 60 and 85 km] ob- tion, several chapters include materialnot
tained during the twoflights from which re- commonly found in coordinate texts: C h a p
sults could be derived. A similar difference ter 1 concludes with a section on the WKB
.
was also observed by Kane . . whether this approximation, Chapter 5 discusses disper-
difference is due toa seasonal effect, or only sion relations, Chapter 8 contains a section
indicates a great variability in the values of on the Wiener-Hopf method. Of course, the
the collision frequency is hard to say until word “Introduction” might well have pref-
data become available. ” aced most of the chapter heads instead of tems design approach to the particular sys-
Despite a few typographical errors only the last. On the other hand, the infor-
[mainly misspelled words like “probide” for mation on special functions,Chapter 7, plish its mission. These include chapters on
provide,page 41, or“entrancement” for seems more extensivethan necessary in a
’enhancement” on page 3861 which the pub- course on the level for which this book is
lisher mighthave been able to avoid, the intended.
printing and formatof this book are pleasing As the authors somewhat breezily prom-
and effective; an author index, but no sub- ise in their foreword, the material does not
ject index, is included. Few people will want always flow smoothly, nor is thestudent
to read every paper in this collection, be- always carefully prepared for what follows.
cause the subjectscovered are quite diverse; In Chapter 11, for example, the genesis of
butanyone working in the area, ofionc- theFredholm formula is explained in one
sphericphysics or radiowavepropagation sentence. The subsequent symbolicdiscus-
throughthe ionosphere will find here a sion of the formula is also too condensed.
wealth of reference material. The editor and (Powers of X areomitted in some of the
publisher are tobe congratulated for making expressions). Less significantly,severalde-
it available. tails are skipped over in the argument after engineer working in this field. I t will also be
CHARLES POLK equation (7.78). These could actually have
Dept. of Elec. Engrg. beensuppliedmerely through a reference
University of Rhode Island
Kingston, R. I. back toChapter1,equation (1.62). Em-
endations in this spirit as well as correction
of somemisprints will certainly be under-
taken in subsequent editions.
I foundthe bookgenerally attractive.
The material is presented in a crisp manner, siderable care.
Mathematical Methods of Physics, by Jon and is chosen with an understanding of cur-
Mathews and R L. Walker rent needs.
Published (1964) by W. A. Benjamin, Inc.. One WALTER KAHN
Park Ave.,New York. N. Y. 443 pages+ll index Polytechnic Inst. of Brooklyn
pages+vi pagesf5 bibliography pages+l4 appendix Brooklyn, N. Y.
pages. Illus. 6 X9. $12.50.
This text, which is concerned with the
teaching of mathematical methods to senior
or first-yeargraduatestudents, comprises Space
Vehicle
Electronics, Principles of
sixteen chapterstouching on mostmathe- Guided Missile Design, by DavidBruce
matical techniques employed in theoretical
Neuman
physics today. ‘It is a book about mathe- Published (1964) by D. Van Nostrand Co.. Inc.,
matics forphysicists . . . and the level of 120 Alexander St., Princeton, N. J. 383 pages+l3
index pages+xpagesfreferences by chapter. Illus.
rigor is intended to reflect current practice 6 x 9 . $15.75.
in theoreticalphysics.”Thematerialhas
evolved from notes which the authors had This is thefourteenthvolume of the
Guided Missile Design series edited by Capt.
writtenfor a course at the California In-
stitute of Technology. Grayson Merrill, LEN (ret.). Capt. Merrill
has contributed very materially to thetech-
In a review of a book of this kind,I think
it is informative to reproducethe list of nical development of the U. S. S a v y in this
field fromtheveryearlystages,both at
chapterheadings:
S A M T C Point Mugu and at the Bureau of
1) Ordinary differential equations Aeronautics,and is thusparticularly well
2) Infinite series qualified for his role in planning and editing
3) Evaluation of integrals thismaterial.DavidSeuman,theauthor,
4) Integraltransforms has worked closely with Capt. Merrill during
5)
Furtherapplications of complex this Same period and is especially well quali-
variables fied to develop the material presentedin this
6) Vectors and matrices book.
7) Special functions The organization of Seuman’s book fol-
8) Partial differential equations lows the “systems approach” used so effec-
9) Eigenfunctions, eigenvalues, and tively thruout this series. In this connota-
Green’s functions tion, the systems approach first determines
10) Perturbationtheory the requirements for the mission, and then
11) Integralequations considers the characteristics of the environ-
12) Calculus of variations ment in which it is to be conducted, including
13)Numerical methods the basicphysicallaws which apply to its
14) Probability and statistics mechanical dynamics and its performancein
15) Tensoranalysis
and differential its environment. This material is presented
geometry in an interestingandreasonablycomplete
16) Introductiontogroupsandgroup manner in the first half of the book: chapters
representations 1, 2, and 3, “SpaceVehicleMissions,” “Space
Appendix-Some properties of functions Environment,” and “Celestial Mechanics,”
of a complex variable. respectively.
View publication stats
335
Cooperation of the Department of De-
material describing variousspace missions
than has heretofore been possible, but not
as much as the reader might like to have.
The coverage of the physical en\’ironment
’
and the celestialmechanics is particularly
interesting.
The balance of the book treats the sys-
tems which the vehicle will need to accom-
the problems of “Communications and Te-
lemetry,”
“Guidance,”“Control,n
and
‘Sources of Internal Electrical Energy.”
Finally, the types of payload are considered
again from the systems approach together
with the necessary sensors and transducers
required to accomplish the mission objec-
tives. The final chapter considers the place-
ment of antennas and systemsin the vehicle
configurationfor optimumoperationand
minimization of interference.
This book will make anexcellent addition
tothe reference library of thegraduate
of considerable value to the engineer inter-
ested in this field and in that connection
should be useful as a graduate text.
Throughout the work, the references to
additionaldetailedinformation on allsub-
jects covered are particularly numerous and
currentandhave beenselected with con-
CHARLESH. DOERSAM, JR.
Polytechnic Inst. of Brooklyn
Brooklyn. N. Y.
Digital
Magnetic
Recording, by A. S.
Hoagland
Published (1964) by John Wiley & Sons, Inc 605
Third Ave..New York. N. Y. 150 pages+4 Yndex
pagesfvi pagesfreferences by chapter. Illus. 6 X9.
Although magnetic recording of digits is
one of the most important branchesof mod-
ern computer technology, its utilization has
been more of an art than a science. In the
pastdecadeexperimentalandtheoretical
advanceshave given a betterunderstand-
ing of the art, leading to improved density,
reliability, and access of recorded data. Dr.
Hoagland has distilled this knowledge into a
treatment of basic magneticand physical
processes involving heads and record media.
He has kept his book concise by purposely
avoiding specific designs or circuitry.
The first chapters orient
the
reader
towards generalprinciples of magnetic re-
cording and mass storage of data. The ma-
jor partof the book deals with theory of digi-
tal magnetic reading and writing processes,
magneticheads,storagemedia, head-to-
track relations, coding, and reliability.
The philosophy and viewpoints are
based on many years of experience b y Dr.
HoaglandintheUniversity of California
Computer Laboratory, and on the San Jose
Research Staff of IBM, where he guided the
development of random access computer
memories. This book is highly recommended
to anyone who wants to broaden his scope
of digital magnetic recording.
MARVINCAMRAS
IIT Research Inst.
Chicago, Ill.