[PDF] The Language Of Physics eBook

Author : Elizabeth Garber
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 410 pages
File Size : 24,34 MB
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Science
ISBN : 1461217660

GET BOOK

This work is the first explicit examination of the key role that mathematics has played in the development of theoretical physics and will undoubtedly challenge the more conventional accounts of its historical development. Although mathematics has long been regarded as the "language" of physics, the connections between these independent disciplines have been far more complex and intimate than previous narratives have shown. The author convincingly demonstrates that practices, methods, and language shaped the development of the field, and are a key to understanding the mergence of the modern academic discipline. Mathematicians and physicists, as well as historians of both disciplines, will find this provocative work of great interest.

Author : Bruce Gregory
Publisher :
Page : 250 pages
File Size : 23,53 MB
Release : 1990-05-31
Category : Psychology
ISBN :

GET BOOK

Physicists invented a language in order to talk about the world. This book does not set out to explain the discipline, but rather to explore the relationship between the language of physics and the world it describes. The ``physics'' whose history the author traces here is concerned with understanding the ultimate constituents of matter and the nature of the forces through which these constituents interact. The very precise language (mathematics) of physicists gives us an opportunity to see more clearly than is otherwise possible just how much of what we find in the world is a result of the way we talk about it. Anyone interested in the history of physics and its language would enjoy reading this book.

Author : John P. Cullerne
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 14,70 MB
Release : 2008-08-28
Category : Mathematics
ISBN : 0199533792

GET BOOK

Introducing physics in the language of mathematics and providing revision of the mathematical techniques and physical concepts, this text also features instructive questions with full solutions and is intended for students starting, or preparing for, thestudy of physical science or engineering at university.

Author : Edward MacKinnon
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 274 pages
File Size : 10,86 MB
Release : 2011-11-23
Category : Science
ISBN : 9400723695

GET BOOK

This book is the first to offer a systematic account of the role of language in the development and interpretation of physics. An historical-conceptual analysis of the co-evolution of mathematical and physical concepts leads to the classical/quatum interface. Bohrian orthodoxy stresses the indispensability of classical concepts and the functional role of mathematics. This book analyses ways of extending, and then going beyond this orthodoxy orthodoxy. Finally, the book analyzes how a revised interpretation of physics impacts on basic philosophical issues: conceptual revolutions, realism, and reductionism.

Author : Michael D. Gordin
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 424 pages
File Size : 22,60 MB
Release : 2015-04-13
Category : History
ISBN : 022600032X

GET BOOK

English is the language of science today. No matter which languages you know, if you want your work seen, studied, and cited, you need to publish in English. But that hasn’t always been the case. Though there was a time when Latin dominated the field, for centuries science has been a polyglot enterprise, conducted in a number of languages whose importance waxed and waned over time—until the rise of English in the twentieth century. So how did we get from there to here? How did French, German, Latin, Russian, and even Esperanto give way to English? And what can we reconstruct of the experience of doing science in the polyglot past? With Scientific Babel, Michael D. Gordin resurrects that lost world, in part through an ingenious mechanism: the pages of his highly readable narrative account teem with footnotes—not offering background information, but presenting quoted material in its original language. The result is stunning: as we read about the rise and fall of languages, driven by politics, war, economics, and institutions, we actually see it happen in the ever-changing web of multilingual examples. The history of science, and of English as its dominant language, comes to life, and brings with it a new understanding not only of the frictions generated by a scientific community that spoke in many often mutually unintelligible voices, but also of the possibilities of the polyglot, and the losses that the dominance of English entails. Few historians of science write as well as Gordin, and Scientific Babel reveals his incredible command of the literature, language, and intellectual essence of science past and present. No reader who takes this linguistic journey with him will be disappointed.

Author : Don Koks
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 549 pages
File Size : 13,97 MB
Release : 2006-09-15
Category : Science
ISBN : 0387309438

GET BOOK

Have you ever wondered why the language of modern physics centres on geometry? Or how quantum operators and Dirac brackets work? What a convolution really is? What tensors are all about? Or what field theory and lagrangians are, and why gravity is described as curvature? This book takes you on a tour of the main ideas forming the language of modern mathematical physics. Here you will meet novel approaches to concepts such as determinants and geometry, wave function evolution, statistics, signal processing, and three-dimensional rotations. You will see how the accelerated frames of special relativity tell us about gravity. On the journey, you will discover how tensor notation relates to vector calculus, how differential geometry is built on intuitive concepts, and how variational calculus leads to field theory. You will meet quantum measurement theory, along with Green functions and the art of complex integration, and finally general relativity and cosmology. The book takes a fresh approach to tensor analysis built solely on the metric and vectors, with no need for one-forms. This gives a much more geometrical and intuitive insight into vector and tensor calculus, together with general relativity, than do traditional, more abstract methods. Don Koks is a physicist at the Defence Science and Technology Organisation in Adelaide, Australia. His doctorate in quantum cosmology was obtained from the Department of Physics and Mathematical Physics at Adelaide University. Prior work at the University of Auckland specialised in applied accelerator physics, along with pure and applied mathematics.

Author : Stuart E. Loucks
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 290 pages
File Size : 38,13 MB
Release : 2006-08-04
Category : Science
ISBN : 0471762504

GET BOOK

Get a better grade in Physics! Physics may be challenging, but with training and practice you can come out of your physics class with the grade you want! With Stuart Loucks' Introductory Physics with Algebra as a Second Language(TM): Mastering Problem-Solving, you'll get the practice and training you need to better understand fundamental principles, build confidence, and solve problems. Here's how you can get a better grade in physics: Understand the basic language of physics Introductory Physics with Algebra as a Second Language(TM) will help you make sense of your textbook and class notes so that you can use them more effectively. The text explains key topics in algebra-based physics in clear, easy-to-understand language. Break problems down into simple steps Introductory Physics with Algebra as a Second Language(TM) teaches you to recognize details that tell you how to begin new problems. You will learn how to effectively organize the information, decide on the correct equations, and ultimately solve the problem. Learn how to tackle unfamiliar physics problems Stuart Loucks coaches you in the fundamental concepts and approaches needed to set up and solve the major problem types. As you learn how to deal with these kinds of problems, you will be better equipped to tackle problems you have never seen before. Improve your problem-solving skills You'll learn timesaving problem-solving strategies that will help you focus your efforts and avoid potential pitfalls.

Author : Frederick W. Byron
Publisher : Courier Corporation
Page : 674 pages
File Size : 49,69 MB
Release : 2012-04-26
Category : Science
ISBN : 0486135063

GET BOOK

Graduate-level text offers unified treatment of mathematics applicable to many branches of physics. Theory of vector spaces, analytic function theory, theory of integral equations, group theory, and more. Many problems. Bibliography.

Author : Philip Russell Wallace
Publisher : Courier Corporation
Page : 644 pages
File Size : 46,15 MB
Release : 1984-01-01
Category : Science
ISBN : 0486646769

GET BOOK

This mathematical reference for theoretical physics employs common techniques and concepts to link classical and modern physics. It provides the necessary mathematics to solve most of the problems. Topics include the vibrating string, linear vector spaces, the potential equation, problems of diffusion and attenuation, probability and stochastic processes, and much more. 1972 edition.

Author : Heinz R. Pagels
Publisher : Courier Corporation
Page : 386 pages
File Size : 16,97 MB
Release : 2012-02-15
Category : Science
ISBN : 0486485064

GET BOOK

" This is one of the most important books on quantum mechanics ever written for lay readers, in which an eminent physicist and successful science writer, Heinz Pagels, discusses and explains the core concepts of physics without resorting to complicated mathematics. "Can be read by anyone. I heartily recommend it!" -- New York Times Book Review. 1982 edition"--