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I'm doing bachelor's in Physics and in 3rd semester the professor introduced Mathematical methods with us, which seemed like a great book at first but by the time we started a chapter on Tensor analysis, I realized I couldn't understand after that. Same goes for other students. Somehow I managed to get an A+ but now we have the second volume of the book and it's just too hard to understand. Is there like a book or books that explains the mathematics in much more detail? I've studied Vector analysis and ODEs but the chapters on Matrices and group theory and series are still a blur.

Qmechanic
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Abdul Qadeer
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  • Related, if not dupe of, https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/193/25301 – Kyle Kanos Mar 26 '19 at 19:54
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    I don’t think this question is a dupe of the link: here, we’re dealing with much more basic maths than differential geometry, algebraic topology etc. Some answers of the suggested dupe might ba applicable here, but certainly not all. – ZeroTheHero Mar 26 '19 at 21:36
  • It is a widespread lament among physics teachers that there are few descent options (and nothing ideal) for undergraduate math methods. And I'm pretty sure that the subject has been brought up on the site more than once already. – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten Mar 27 '19 at 00:12
  • I agree that the question is not a dupe of the link, but one of the answers there would be a good answer here: https://physics.stackexchange.com/a/2581/224747 - the Boas book covers most of the same material as Arfken, but I found it much clearer. – Subhaneil Lahiri Mar 27 '19 at 02:19
  • @SubhaneilLahiri Boas is what I used as an undergrad, too. Not bad. Very good in places, a bit rough in others. But I think that it is a topic where it is much (much!) easier to write a bad book that a passable one. And even that is a monumental task. – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten Mar 27 '19 at 02:43
  • Guys I feel like the Boas book and this one are to be used as references when you've already learned the topics. I'm studying most of it for the first time so I need something much more clearer. Thanks for the comments tho – Abdul Qadeer Mar 27 '19 at 02:52
  • @AbdulQadeer There's really not a good single book for math methods that doesn't read like a reference. Let's be honest- "mathematical methods" is a hilariously broad topic. I'd suggest looking for books on single topics that you have trouble with. – Chris Mar 27 '19 at 11:58

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