Volume 1, Methods of Mathematical Physics

Rating:
Summary: whoever ever study this book
Review: a coulpe of noble prize phycistists, one ever studies hardy, whittaker, wigner, while another one study courant-hilbert, finally the former one is more famous, but the latter is still a concret one. i think they represent two different schools of style and tasty.

Rating:
Summary: This book is a classics, but perhaps not exhaustive
Review: I brought this book ( volume 2 also as well ) because of its " fame ", but when I read it, it has several draw backs. First, may be the original vesion is in German, so even with good translation, it seem does not fit in the usual English style we get used to .Also the topics it choose is too few and also the area covered is too narrow and not well co-ordinated. For example, the whole volumme I is almost dedicated to Calculus of variation only. In volume 2, the whole book is dedicted to differentiation equations. But that is not the greatest drawback. The most bad point is that the book just presents formulae after formulae, equations after equations, without giving examples of how to use it,and also no exercise for me to practice. Compared the the timeless classic " A course of mordern analysis " by Whittaker and Watson, it is definitely at a lower level. This book cannot be described as " classics ".

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Summary: courant studied mechanics and mathematics
Review: i noted this book (the asia private edition) when i was a junior student taking engineering math III. now i note vol.1 is for vibration phenomenon, while vol.2 is for wave phenomenon. the material is over a century. birth day is 1924, while the golden age of quantum mechanics is 1925. a modern mathematican wrote the biography of courant said that many physictists surprised that courant could write the tool for quantum mechanics (wave mechanics) before the birth of quantum mechanics. i do not surprised ,because vol.1 is for vibration phenomenon of mechanics, it is also over a century ago knowledge. the real thing is that man use the usual form of thinking and used the unique avaiable tool for the formulation of quantum mechanics. but there exist another state vector, matrix form of quantum mechanics. this advanced classis is for math phD and researcher. one way to study this classic is via mathematics, while another way is via mechanics concept, but when you can study it via both ways, you are great.

Rating:
Summary: some history
Review: some history: during world war II, this book was released to germany government and military use mainly, only printed in several thousands copies. moreover, the german version is not so sophisticated as the 1950's, 1960's america edition , but is limited to someone who is german literate. also, courant was past away in 1972, only he could tell you the secret and usage of this work. i think this work had ever been the important contribution of germany and courant. but america still got victory in the war. finally, it is a fact that not everyone can access this advanced classic, especially the modern more sophisticated america edition.

Rating:
Summary: background history of this work
Review: the biography of courant-hilbert can give the background history of this work. i got a B grade at the fifth year secondary school general math, this is the math level i really mastering. during the three years engineering university education, i have 2 and 1/2 years math education, but the language of instruction is not easy for me, so i can only help by myself. however, i still learned the history and development of the university math i needed to learn. besides, i also learned that during the 20th century, able scientists and scholars, due to the social and political enviroment of their original country turned worst, then they went to usa. therefore, usa becomes the most strong country of technology and scientific research. leaved school over 10 years, i have a hope to exam the biographs of these scientists and scholars, and to write (i hope if i could) the history and development of the science and technology of usa in relation to the arrival in usa of them. this history also has relation to the successful making of atomic bombs and victory of the war, also in relation to the super air power of usa. it is a very interesting issue. the biograph of courant give me this fresh idea.