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0 pointsmcantor16y ago0 comments

What, you mean if I complain hard enough, the knowledge will not zap itself into my brain, or magically appear in my browser window? Preposterous! Shenanigans! Chicanery!

Joking aside... I'll have to start snooping around for some good textbooks. I bet a couple of HNers out there might have some good suggestions, too!

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3 comments · 1 top-level

swombat16y ago· 2 in thread

For a good grounding in a lot of maths, I have somewhat fond memories of Boas: http://www.amazon.com/Mathematical-Methods-Physical-Sciences...

Arfken was also tough, but excellent: http://www.amazon.com/Mathematical-Methods-Physicists-Sixth-...

Yes, these books are fucking expensive.

PS: I did a physics degree, so my favourite books are maths for physicists... maybe former Maths students will have "purer" books to recommend. Anyway, between these two, you'll have a good year or two of hard studying before you need to buy another one :-)

nlindig16y ago

If you're looking for something less pricey... I highly recommend Stephen Boyd's book (free here: http://www.stanford.edu/~boyd/cvxbook/), as well as his cvx matlab toolbox. There are also some video lectures which might be less mind-numbing (http://www.stanford.edu/class/ee364a/index.html).

jules16y ago

Expensive? I had to buy http://www.amazon.com/Statistical-Mechanics-Thermodynamics-B...

Half the number of pages, double the price.

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