A Student's Guide to Vectors and Tensors

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Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2011-11-14
Publisher(s): Cambridge University Press
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Summary

Vectors and tensors are among the most powerful problem-solving tools available, with applications ranging from mechanics and electromagnetics to general relativity. Understanding the nature and application of vectors and tensors is critically important to students of physics and engineering. Adopting the same approach used in his highly popular A Student's Guide to Maxwell's Equations, Fleisch explains vectors and tensors in plain language. Written for undergraduate and beginning graduate students, the book provides a thorough grounding in vectors and vector calculus before transitioning through contra and covariant components to tensors and their applications. Matrices and their algebra are reviewed on the book's supporting website, which also features interactive solutions to every problem in the text where students can work through a series of hints or choose to see the entire solution at once. Audio podcasts give students the opportunity to hear important concepts in the book explained by the author.

Author Biography

Daniel Fleisch is a Professor in the Department of Physics at Wittenberg University, where he specializes in electromagnetics and space physics. He is the author of A Student's Guide to Maxwell's Equations (Cambridge University Press, 2008).

Table of Contents

Prefacep. vii
Acknowledgmentsp. x
Vectorsp. 1
Definitions (basic)p. 1
Cartesian unit vectorsp. 5
Vector componentsp. 7
Vector addition and multiplication by a scalarp. 11
Non-Cartesian unit vectorsp. 14
Basis vectorsp. 20
Chapter 1 problemsp. 23
Vector operationsp. 25
Scalar productp. 25
Cross productp. 27
Triple scalar productp. 30
Triple vector productp. 32
Partial derivativesp. 35
Vectors as derivativesp. 41
Nabla - the del operatorp. 43
Gradientp. 44
Divergencep. 46
Curlp. 50
Laplacianp. 54
Chapter 2 problemsp. 60
Vector applicationsp. 62
Mass on an inclined planep. 62
Curvilinear motionp. 72
The electric fieldp. 81
The magnetic fieldp. 89
Chapter 3 problemsp. 95
Covariant and contravariant vector componentsp. 97
Coordinate-system transformationsp. 97
Basis-vector transformationsp. 105
Basis-vector vs. component transformationsp. 109
Non-orthogonal coordinate systemsp. 110
Dual basis vectorsp. 113
Finding covariant and contravariant componentsp. 117
Index notationp. 122
Quantities that transform contravariantlyp. 124
Quantities that transform covariantlyp. 127
Chapter 4 problemsp. 130
Higher-rank tensorsp. 132
Definitions (advanced)p. 132
Covariant, contravariant, and mixed tensorsp. 134
Tensor addition and subtractionp. 135
Tensor multiplicationp. 137
Metric tensorp. 140
Index raising and loweringp. 147
Tensor derivatives and Christoffel symbolsp. 148
Covariant differentiationp. 153
Vectors and one-formsp. 156
Chapter 5 problemsp. 157
Tensor applicationsp. 159
The inertia tensorp. 159
The electromagnetic field tensorp. 171
The Riemann curvature tensorp. 183
Chapter 6 problemsp. 192
Further readingp. 194
Indexp. 195
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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