a catalyzed reaction its rate depends in part on the nature and concentration of catalytic species. John C. Speck. Jr. Michigan State University East Lansing. Michigan 48823
How to Solve General Chemlstry Problems. Finh Edition.
C. H. Sorum, University of Wisconsin and R. S. Boikess. Fluteem 1Jnivcrsit.v~ ~, ..~ Prentice-Hall, Ine., Englewood Cliffs, 1916. xii 301 pages. Figures and tables. 15 X 23 cm. $5.95
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In this fifth edition new chapters are added on bonding and structure, colligative properties of solutions, kinetics, thermodynamics and thermochemistry, and the interactions between electromagnetic radiation and matter. Simultaneous equilibria prohlems are treated in detail using the main reaction approximation. More attention is given to buffer solutions and other aspects of aqueous equilibria which have biological interest. Aside from these additions, the concise and lucid explanations of the previous edition have been retained with only minor changes. The second edition of this book has been reviewed (this Journal, 36, 52 (1959).) One small hut important exception to this lucidity is in the area of significant figures (pp. 2427), in which no clear distinction is made between tntssured and counted numbers, a i they nflert i h nunilwr ~ ofdlowrd si:uifirant figures in an answer. S.I. o n m are neither used nor mentioned. Many new problems are included in addition to the best ones from the fourth edition, giving a good range of problem difficulty with most in the moderate area. There are a total of 819 problems, of which 294 are immediately followed by complete solutions or guiding hints, and complete answers to all problems are in the back of the book. The appendix contains eleven tables of useful data. The general clarity of the explanations and the variety of well-chosen problems should result in wide use ofthis volume as a supplementary problem book and self-learning aid. J. Michael Canner Regis College Denver. Colorado 80221
Mathematical Technlques in Chemistry
Joseph B. Denee, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1975. xv 442 pages. Figures and tables. 16 x 23.5 cm. $14.50
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How many times have you heard the student's lament, "I never thought I'd use that mathematical technique when I saw it in Math 101; and now that I have t o use it in chemistry, I can't remember what to do!"? Professor Denee's book represents a comprehensive attempt to provide chemistry undergraduate and graduate students with the mathematical twls required in chemistry, as well as the motivation to learn mathe-
matics through applications t o chemical problems. I believe this text will find favor with graduate students and with professionals who have experienced the frustration mentioned above. I t is less appropriate for its professed principal use as a text for undergraduate chemistry students who have completed only a year of calculus. The material is right, but the compressed nature of the mathematical presentation, combined with rather advanced applications, will lead t o difficulties with students who have the minimal background. "Mathematical Techniques in Chemistry" begins with a review of basic algehra and arithmetic and then turns in individual chapters to differentiation, integration, series expansions, differential equations, matrieies, vectors and tensors and special functions. Each chapter contains extensive problem sets (although without solutions) which stress chemical applications. Mast chapters are well written, mathematically very concise, and contain a good selection of topics for further application in chemistry. For example, the chapter on differentiation contains an extensive "Digression into Thermodynamics" including applications of the Maxwell relationships. Fourier transforms are considered as a special ease of the definite integral, and the matrix eigenvalue-eigenvector problem is applied to calculations of the vibrational frequencies of small molecules. Other applications are of similar chemical maturity so that students probably won't benefit from the chemical motivation until after their physical chemistry courses-and those are exactly the courses that the mathematical content of this text should precede. With that in mind, this text ean be strongly recommended as an excellent guide for seniors and might well be recommended as the text for a required introductory graduate course in chemical mathematics. Joseph L. Lippert Rochester inslihne of Technology Rochester. New York 14623
Electron Movemenk A Gulde for Students of Organic Chemistry
Daniel R. Weeks, Seton Hall University. W. B. Saunders, Philadelphia, 1976. xv 133 pages. Figures and tables. 19.5 X 26 cm. $4.95
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This book is designed as a supplementary work book for use in a typical first-year organic chemistry course. The author effectively utilizes a programmed approach t o cover the fallowing three major areas: (1) Lewis Structures, (2) Resonance Structures, and (3) Mechanisms. The first of these chapters provides the student with a set of six rules to be used in constructing correct Lewis structures for a variety of organic molecules encompassing nearly all important functional groups. Of special interest in thischapter are the sections dealing with presentation of formal charges on molecules and ions. The second chapter is devoted to presentation of a few simple rules for writing resonance structures followed by numerous exercises in which the student is required to draw reso(Continued on page A322) Volume 54, Number 7, July 1977 1 A321
