Calculus of Variations by Robert Weinstock
This book by Robert Weinstock was written to fill the need for a basic introduction to the calculus of variations. Simply and easily written, with an emphasis on the applications of this calculus, it has long been a standard reference of physicists, engineers, and applied mathematicians.The author begins slowly, introducing the reader to the calculus of variations, and supplying lists of essential formulae and derivations. Later chapters cover isoperimetric problems, geometrical optics, Fermat's principle, dynamics of particles, the Sturm-Liouville eigenvalue-eigenfunction problem, the theory of elasticity, quantum mechanics, and electrostatics. Each chapter ends with a series of exercises which should prove very useful in determining whether the material in that chapter has been thoroughly grasped.The clarity of exposition makes this book easily accessible to anyone who has mastered first-year calculus with some exposure to ordinary differential equations. Physicists and engineers who find variational methods evasive at times will find this book particularly helpful.
I regard this as a very useful book which I shall refer to frequently in the future. J. L. Synge, Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society.
Robert Weinstock's Calculus of Variations, initially published by McGraw-Hill in 1952 and reissued by Dover in 1974, is one of Dover's most popular mathematics publications. Weinstock remembered how, after receiving his PhD in physics from Stanford in 1943, he worked for a period at Harvard's Radar Research Center as part of the war effort in a book written in the 1990s. He went to work as a seaman on two cargo ships for a few months in 1946, describing himself as an idealistic 26-year-old who came up with the concept that he could do more for society and humanity's issues as a working man than as a physicist. When Weinstock returned to the United States, he answered a need for qualified mathematics instructors at Stanford (which, like most American colleges and institutions at the time, was grappling with a large influx of new students financed by the GI Bill). He intended to return to academia for only a brief moment at the time.
Nevertheless, as it turned out, he went on to have a long teaching career at Stanford, Notre Dame, and lastly Oberlin, which lasted almost fifty years and ended in 1990. In the Author's Own Words: I worked as a wiper (an engine-room worker who conducted painting, cleaning, and other maintenance) aboard two merchant ships from January to September 1946. These brought me twice through the Panama Canal and let me to see Italy, Germany, and Japan, all of which were enemies during World War II. Eight months of my life were without a doubt the most exciting of my life.
In retrospect, I believe I was the only wiper in the US Merchant Marine with a PhD in physics in 1946. Robert Weinstock is an American film director and producer.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780486630694 |
| ISBN 10 | 0486630692 |
| Title | Calculus of Variations |
| Author | Robert Weinstock |
| Series | Dover Books On Mathematics |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Dover Publications Inc. |
| Year published | 1974-06-01 |
| Number of pages | 352 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |