Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences

What Hacker News says

1. infinetNov 2025
   First impression from this list is that Russia has a lot of mathematicians!

   From the list, I have only read What is Mathematics? by Courant, which is a well-known and excellent book. I’d add Princeton Companion to Mathematics as a more advanced version, and Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences by Mary Boas as a more detailed alternative to What is Mathematics, to the list. Other titles on the list, such as those on probability or linear algebra, are perhaps less well-known.

   Show morethread
2. LatteLazyJun 2023
   Forgive my ignorance: what do student do with all these books? I did my U/G & Masters in Physics in Exeter UK. We used only 1 actual textbook (University Physics by Young and Freedman, about 45USD new). I bought 1 more by choice (Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences by Mary Boas) because I needed some help there and the lecturer was weak. But all the actual information I needed was covered in lectures, tutorials etc. Assignments were class specific and produced by lecturers. How does the US system actually use all these books?
   Show morethread
3. eointierneySep 2021
   This is very much what I did, but I would add two other things: study above your level, and read the history of the subject.

   If an undergraduate read graduate level textbooks, especially overviews.

   This gives one a sense of the context of the subject, an appreciation of "where it's going", a hint of why the subject is still interesting and under active development, and makes the undergraduate material seem almost innocent by comparison. It's much harder, of course, and you'll often find that the entire semester's material is covered in a couple of chapters at the beginning, but the feeling of "how the professionals really talk/think about the subject" is hugely important for getting a feel of the thing.

   The history of a subject is great for giving the human context, which is hugely useful for grokking how things developed organically, as well as the personalities involved. It can really help remembering stuff.

   Before going back to college to do Maths and Physics I went out to the local university to get advice as to how to study the subjects. I was told to get Feynman's Lectures ((in)famous) and Boas' Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences (extremely terse but excellent). I did, tried my best, and in retrospect still think they were taking the piss. And yet, when I went back to university a year later, there were so many ideas and intuitions already in place that although the Maths was still computationally difficult the concepts were not as strange as they might have otherwise been.

   In college itself it was the library that was the real draw, so many amazing texts just there for the reading. To be fair, the professors were wonderfully patient and encouraging.

   But mainly, just keep at it, hour after hour, without comparing yourself or your efforts to anyone else. It's hard enough without imagining other people looking over your shoulder. I remember a number of young ones who, though brilliant in school, found university just that bit beyond them. Take frequent breaks, even holidays, and remember, above all, that exams are perhaps the worst test of learning we have yet devised apart from all the others.

   Show morethread
4. LatteLazyApr 2020
   Once you understand VC operators (grad, div and curl) and the associated intergals, Maxwells Equations are actually really intuitive and quit beautiful. I was lucky that the maths course I was on covered those a few weeks before we started electrodynamics. Plus I had Mary Boas Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences which teaches this material (and Greens theorem etc) very well.
   thread
5. HaszMar 2020
   I would like to add one of my favorite mathematical "cookbooks" -- "Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences" by Mary Boas.

   Bad Integrals? Tensor Analysis? Fancy functions and special polynomials? PDE tricks?

   Boas has solutions!

   Methods are practically explained and succinct. It's my favorite book to brush up on a old technique or learn some new methods.

   Wolfram's Mathworld is also a good reference, but not as much of a learning tool.

   Show morethread
6. ArtWombOct 2019
   Good list! I'd also add Mary Boas' Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences. A standard textbook for incoming students across disciplines and very accessible
   thread