In a rapidly evolving field such as computational physics, six years is an eternity. Even though many of the elementary techniques described here are of venerable age, their assembly into sophisticated combined methods and their intensive application to ever new problems is an ongoing and exciting process. After six years, a new the new vistas edition of this textbook must therefore take into account some of that have opened up recently. Apart from these additions and some didactic improvements, the general struc­ ture of the book holds good. The first three chapters are devoted to a thorough, if concise, treatment of the main ingredients from numerical mathematics: finite differences, linear algebra, and stochastics. This exercise will prove valuable when we proceed, in chapters 4 and 5, to combine these elementary tools into powerful instruments for the integration of differential equations. The final chapters are devoted to a number of applications in selected fields: statistical physics, quantum mechanics, and hydrodynamics. I will gradually augment this text by web-resident sample programs. These will be written in JAVA and will be accompanied by short explanations and references to this text. Thus it may prove worthwhile to pay an occasional visit to my web-site www.ap.univie.ac.at/users/Franz.Vesely/ to see if any new applets have sprung up.

Product Description: Doing Physics makes concepts of physics easier to grasp by relating them to everyday knowledge. Addressing some of the models and metaphors that physicists use to explain the physical world, Martin H. Krieger describes the conceptual world of physics by means of analogies to economics, anthropology, theater, carpentry, mechanisms such as clockworks, and machine tool design...read more

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This advanced textbook provides an introduction to the basic methods of computational physics, as well as an overview of recent progress in several areas of scientific computing. The author presents many step-by-step examples of practical numerical methods, often with the relevant program listing. The first half of the book deals with basic computational tools and routines, covering differential equations, spectral analysis and matrix operations. Important concepts are illustrated by relevant examples at each stage. The author also discusses more advanced topics, such as Monte Carlo simulations, lattice gas methods, molecular dynamics and symbolic computing. The book includes many exercises, and it can be used as a textbook for senior undergraduate or first-year graduate courses on scientific computation. It will also be a useful reference for anyone involved in computational physics or related disciplines.

Product Description: This classic companion to undergraduate practical work in physics describes the purposeful, critical approach that should be made to all physics experiments. It covers the statistical treatment of data and experimental methods, and gives advice on keeping efficient records, calculations, and scientific writing...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Examines the aims and tools of science for creating theories and explanations of phenomena, with an eye to answering the question of whether or not science actually leads to true comprehension of reality

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Product Description: This book defines and develops a unifying principle of physics, that of 'extreme physical information'. The information in question is, perhaps surprisingly, not Shannon or Boltzmann entropy but, rather, Fisher information, a simple concept little known to physicists...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Consists of a set of laboratory-based modules that offer a step-by-step introduction to physics and the physical sciences. Through an in-depth study of a few fundamental topics, students develop critical scientific reasoning skills...read more

Product Description: The unusual ambition of this volume is to engage scientists, historians, and philosophers in a common quest to delineate the structure of the creative thinking responsible for major advances in physical theory. The topic does not fit anyone discipline's proprietary interests, and can only be pursued cooperatively...read more

Product Description: In our daily lives we conceive of our surroundings as an objectively given reality. The world is perceived through our senses, and ~hese provide us, so we believe, with a faithful image of the world. But occ~ipnally we are forced to realize that our senses deceive us, e...read more

Product Description: Fills the need for an experimental physics text. There are three main sections of the text. The first is an introduction that offers valuable insights into the importance of the human element in physics and traces the course of its historical development...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: "A pleasure to read. Gracefully written by a scholar well grounded in the relevant philosophical, historical, and technical background. . . . a helpfully clarifying review and analysis of some issues of importance to recent philosophy of science and a source of some illuminating insights...read more

Product Description: The author applies the methodology of scientific research programmes to the origins of relativity, showing how Eddington, Lorentz, Poincare, Planck and Weyl were driven by mathematical heuristics to make their various contributions to Einstein's programme.