Computing for Universities

GB Publishing

                                                                                                                                             

                                                                                                                                                (Gunnar.Backstrom@physics.umu.se )  

           Books that demystify
 
                  algebra, statistics, calculus,              

                          and partial differential equations

                                                                                                                                                                                 


Must you learn mathematics as in the 1800s ?

Teach
yourself by MATLAB®!     



Simple Mathematics Using Student Editions of MATLAB®   
by Gunnar Backstrom, PhD 

ISBN 9197555312    (209 pages, sells on the web for  $19.00) 

Undergraduate mathematics is difficult mainly because it is presented in the form of derivations and proofs. These impressive underpinnings made by professional mathematicians may now be taken for granted, and if you only want to make practical use of the theory you may use a shortcut. Trust the verifications of generations of mathematicians and proceed directly to applications, involving only the well-known rules of arithmetic. This is the goal of the present book, which also confers understanding of both algebra and calculus.

The Student Versions of MATLAB may be ordered from MathWorks Inc. by colleges and universities, which in turn can sell CDs to their students, or simply give them away. The full price is around $75. These educational versions are practically identical to the professional MATLAB program, and the restrictions are of no importance in undergraduate work. An enormous number of MATLAB Student Versions  now exist in the world, to be borrowed or purchased second-hand. 

Of course, the Professional MATLAB program may also be used, if it includes the Symbolic Math Toolbox.

The MATLAB program evolves regularly , and every two years or so there is a new version number. Fortunately, the enhancements do not concern the elementary functions and procedures used in first-year mathematics. The author of this book has verified that the examples involved run under the versions 5, 6 and 7. In the recent revision R2009a, only the first example on p.107 does not run (a problem with the Symbolic Toolbox that will no doubt be fixed by Mathworks Inc.)

R
eview  of a previous edition by a British mathematician

Rightclick to read a review in Internationale Mathematishe Nachrichten (Nr. 193, 2003)

This book may be obtained from www.Amazon.com,
Amazon.ca,   Amazon.co.uk,  Amazon.de,  Amazon.fr,  and Amazon.co.jp.

Scandinavians can also order it through www.adlibris.com (178 SEK) .

Booksellers: Please order from www.ingrambook.com in the US  

Without committing yourself you may test the first 11 chapters and view the Table of  Contents,.
Download the first 11 chapters of the above book (including table of contents).
 

Right-click here for FREE download.  Then choose Save Target As.  

 



Do you have difficulties with
partial differential equations?


Partial differential equations (PDEs) predict how fields vary in space and time, and they are hence of  critical importance in physics and engineering. In spite of this central role, PDEs have not yet received the attention they deserve in college curricula. This is because very few exact solutions exist and numerical solutions are cumbersome, to the extent that the latter are taught within separate academic disciplines, such as Applied Mathematics, Numerical Analysis, or Computation. These disciplines focus on numerical methods rather than actual solutions and are accordingly of little practical value to scientists and engineers. 

The  last decade brought software for solving PDEs with various boundary  conditions. One such program may now be downloaded for FREE on the web, and the user only needs superficial knowledge of how solutions are generated internally. This program is exploited in the following self-instructional books. Samples from these books are also free on the web.


A program available on the web solves PDEs in seconds on a simple PC. FlexPDE® is a finite-element program, written in C language for Windows 98 and later platforms. This program is simple to use and has a built-in text editor.  It constitutes a powerful tool for teaching classical fields, which are notoriously difficult parts of the physics curriculum. Electro- and magnetostatics are examples of fields that are now easily accessible to numerical analysis. Heat transfer, electromagnetic waves, wave mechanics, elastic deformation and vibration, and liquid flow are other examples.    

The Student Version 5 of FlexPDE is FREE!     
You can download the software below and start solving examples from the following book.                      
                                                                                                                                                                               
Download
the student version from www.pdesolutions.com/v5student.html                            
                                                                                                                                                                               

 


Simple Fields of Physics by Finite Element Analysis
by Gunnar Backstrom, PhD

Entirely based on the FREE Student Version of FlexPDE®  

This paperback edition (311 pages) sells on the web for $29.00. 
Applications to Electricity, Magnetism, Heat Transport, Electromagnetic Waves, Wave Mechanics, and Viscous Flow in 2D and 3D.

Have you ever solved a partial differential equation ? 
The laws of physics may be transformed mathematically into second-order partial differential equations (PDEs). The simplest one of this type is



known as the Laplace equation. This governs the distribution of gravitation in free space. Other PDEs, for the electric and magnetic fields etc., are similar but somewhat more complicated.

Few of these equations have exact solutions, which explains why they do not receive the attention they deserve in the academic curriculum. Only in recent years has it become possible to solve PDEs numerically on a PC by finite element analysis (FEA).

The present book is unique in its approach. It is not another volume on conceivable algorithms of FEA. Its main purpose is to exploit a free web program for dealing with PDEs occurring in physics. This program solves a typical example in seconds and promptly presents the results graphically by a variety of plots.

The book comprises
125 examples, illustrated by plots.  End-of-chapter exercises are included. 

The FlexPDE program yields plots in color, whereas the illustrations in the above book are in black-and-white. Once you have typed a problem descriptor (script) and run it, however,  you will obtain pictures in final quality. The only way of learning to use FlexPDE is to type the scripts and find out what every line means. There is also an e-book version from www.ebookomatic.com, where  you find color plots in the text.

If you prefer the paperback, click here to obtain a selection of scripts that you can run immediately on FlexPDE

A "must" for physics and engineering libraries 

ISBN: 9197555304                CONTENTS       

Rightclick to Download the first 7 chapters of the book (including table of contents). 

         
Order: 
from  www.Amazon.com - Amazon.co.uk - Amazon.de - Amazon.fr - Amazon.ca - Amazon.co.jp
Scandinavians can also order it through www.adlibris.com (268 kr)
Booksellers: Please order from  www.ingrambook.com  in the US  

More books on www.LearnByProgramming.com