Basic Maths for the Physical Sciences

A concise and thorough text book for anyone wishing to brush up on maths or furthering ones knowledge of mathematical methods.Plenty of worked examples and problems with exorcises and answers.

I am not quick to give unnecessary praise, however....This is a standard text for undergraduate Physics in combination with Further Mathematics for the Physical Sciences, I have used it for same and also will say that outside of the incredibly thorough mathematical instruction it is by far the BEST instructional textbook I have used for any subject to date. Clearly set out it assumes almost no prior knowledge and should be bought for any student studying engineering, or any mathematical based science. Of particular value is calculation of trigonometry by standard triangles (no calculator!) and a step by step grounding in all necessary mathematics and physics based mathematics, the 'Further...' book then crosses over quite nicely with this one so providing lovely stepping stone between two, if you buy only one maths book in your life this should be it, if you buy two then get 'Further...' book too, it is no coincidence that it is written by Open University Head of Physics and Astronomy Department. Worth every penny.

I really like the design of this book. Every section pre-tests you to find out your strengths and weaknesses, so you'll know whether you can skip it or have to backtrack to an earlier section. This means that you can tackle the book at your own pace; either following in meticulous detail when you need it or just getting straight to the point when all you need is a refresher course. A lot of other textbooks could benefit from this sort of approach.This book covers the basic algebra, vectors, geometry and calculus. There's also a second book that covers complex numbers, differential equations and vector calculus that's every bit as good.