Chemical Education Today edited by
Book & Media Reviews
Jeffrey Kovac University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN 37996-1600
Mathematics for Physical Chemistry, 3rd Edition by Robert G. Mortimer Elsevier Academic Press: Burlington, MA and San Diego, CA, 2005. 393 pp. ISBN 0125083475 (paper). $44.95 reviewed by Jeffrey Kovac
Robert Mortimer’s Mathematics for Physical Chemistry is a widely-used and well-respected supplementary book for students taking an undergraduate course in physical chemistry. The first edition appeared in 1981 and the second in 1999. What is different about the third? The mathematical content is substantially the same although some of the material has been reorganized so that the first three chapters will be useful to students taking general chemistry. The more advanced mathematics begins with differential calculus in Chapter 4. The most important change is that the discussion of
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computer programming using BASIC has been eliminated and sections on the use of spreadsheets and Mathematica have been integrated throughout the book instead of being collected in a single chapter at the end. For example, Chapter 3, “Numerical Solution of Algebraic Equations”, has sections on using Excel to create graphs and on using Mathematica to solve simple equations. Similar sections are found in subsequent chapters. The third edition contains the same clear, careful exposition of the mathematics needed for undergraduate physical chemistry at just the right level as did previous editions. The reorganization means that a chemistry student will find this book a useful reference throughout the entire four-year curriculum and also in graduate school. This edition updates a classic book in light of new developments in computational software while still providing students with a solid background in mathematical methods. Jeffrey Kovac is in the Department of Chemistry, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-1600;
[email protected].
Vol. 83 No. 8 August 2006
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www.JCE.DivCHED.org
