A Student's Guide to Waves

A good mix of maths and interpretation of the physics of waves and some key wave-related phenomena. Need to be fairly comfortable with differential calculus (differentiating basic trig functions and some fairly non-threatening differential equations) but the book does walk you through most of the maths it uses and does it pretty well. Starts by building up a picture of waves that is both descriptive and mathematically based, so you feel you know the subject well and what the maths means, and then uses it to explore the physics of mechanical and electromagnetic waves and quantum wave functions. That's an unusual (and well chosen) mix of topics and for a single volume and the fact that it's done well makes it worth 5 stars. There are links to audio chapter summaries and online examples (which are quite helpful and will hopefully become more common in text books), so there's a fair amount of effort gone into making the content accessible and understandable. Probably not the book for someone trying to get a PhD between haircuts but good if you like a little patient explanation. Worth noting that on a Kindle the equations display as quite small images that won't resize, but they show up ok on the Kindle app for PC.

Despite having 2 engineering degrees, I still found this book practically useful. Daniel managed to explain a complex topic with simple language. The first few chapters provided a mathematical foundation for elaborating further concepts. This study guide is a must-have for any persons trying to understand the topic.

This is another excellent book by Daniel Fleisch. Waves may not seem like an interesting subject but the maths here is compelling and relevant to many other areas of physics and the authors do a great job explaining important concepts. The first chapter which introduces the reader to concepts linking vectors, imaginary numbers and the Euler equation is a must read.

Good reading,not too in depth,recommend.

An excellent book that makes few assumptions of previous knowledge of the subject. The mathematical processes are spelt out in detail, step by step, which makes them easy to follow (in my experience, many mathematical works miss out the intermediate steps, which can discourage the less adept mathematician) . A first class introduction and reference work that will be found useful well beyond the student stage. (I am writing from the perspective of an electrical engineer with more than 40 years experience).

It's obvious when reading this book that the author has a very clear idea of what he wants to teach, and plenty of experience teaching it. This is very evident on several occasions when he uses the phrase "a common misconception". If you are an undergrad who is just beginning their study of waves then this is probably a good book to get you started.

A first class book. If I had to have to have a single book on the topic - this would be it. I just wish I had possessed such a book many years ago! Both format and style of presentation are extraordinarily clear, with website support giving plenty of worked problems. Perfectly suited for use as an introduction to the topic, for supporting undergraduate courses or even as a concise reference book on the topic for the practising engineer/physicist. Highly recommended.

This is a great book if you know why you are buying it. You cannot pass a course reading only this, so it's not complete as it covers some aspects of waves and it does not fully cover them. But, it is full of intuition that other books only dream of