An Introduction to Computer Simulation Methods: Applications to Physical Systems (3rd Edition)

by Addison Wesley

$87.00
buy from amazon.com
Average Rating: * * * * half star
Sales Rank:626509 (lower is better)
Price Used:$64.00
Shipping:Free Shipping on most orders over $25*
Availability:Usually ships in 24 hours
Label:Addison Wesley
Pages:720
Binding:Paperback
Publication Date:2006-01-19
Published By:Addison Wesley
ASIN:0805377581
Category:Book

Authors

Editorial Reviews and Product Descriptions

Product Description

KEY BENEFIT: Now in its third edition, this book teaches physical concepts using computer simulations. The text incorporates object-oriented programming techniques and encourages readers to develop good programming habits in the context of doing physics. Designed for readers at all levels, An Introduction to Computer Simulation Methods uses Java, currently the most popular programming language. Introduction, Tools for Doing Simulations, Simulating Particle Motion, Oscillatory Systems, Few-Body Problems: The Motion of the Planets, The Chaotic Motion of Dynamical Systems, Random Processes, The Dynamics of Many Particle Systems, Normal Modes and Waves, Electrodynamics, Numerical and Monte Carlo Methods, Percolation, Fractals and Kinetic Growth Models, Complex Systems, Monte Carlo Simulations of Thermal Systems, Quantum Systems, Visualization and Rigid Body Dynamics, Seeing in Special and General Relativity, Epilogue: The Unity of Physics For all readers interested in developing programming habits in the context of doing physics.

 

Customer Reviews

Pretty good introductory book - Reviewed on 2005-10-19
* * * *
2 customers found this review helpful.

Good introductory book on Computational Physics.
Projects proposed cover different difficulties so it can be used for college students at all levels.Concepts are well explainded. Introduces areas including linear and nonlinear systems, normal modes and waves, and electrodynamics. This second edition offers expanded material on chaos, complexity, and quantum mechanics, programs with more use of graphics, and appendices on Fortran and C.
very good introductory computational physics book - Reviewed on 2005-04-28
* * * *
4 customers found this review helpful.

This was my first comp. physics book and it was easy and
very instructive. I can assure your money is well spent.
If you find this book too easy, then you should move on to
Thijssen's Computational Physics which is intended for the
`graduate' level readers.
Only 4 stars (not 5) because I don't think that the codes
provided in the book are that useful. Everyone has different
coding style. What really matters is the physical concepts and
not the numerical receipes.
Makes Physics a pleasure - Reviewed on 2004-04-19
* * * * *
4 customers found this review helpful, 2 did not.

Excellent, outstanding book for clarity, elegance, writing style and level of detail. This book won't leave you alone on the intricacies of marrying physics and computer programming and will make your programming activity more intereesting if you are more of a programmer and you physical studies more rewarding and less
"pen-and-paperlike" if you are an aspiring physicist. In fact I highly recommend this book to anyone that has an interest in how nature works and in playing with computers. The extreme clarity of this book makes it accessible to junior colege students and even to advanced, motivated high school students or for self study. I would have preferred to see the example code in the book
in C or better C++ but using BASIC has the advantage of making the book more esy to read and is just sligtly annoying for the
C++ or Java programmer. ( Are there any other kind of real programmers? ;) Just make sure you master your language enough to make calculations, use functions, and are able to produce at least some basic graphics (using C++ and openGL or DirectX would rock). Judge by yourself, but I would buy without a thought a book whose first chapter is on the "Coffe Cooling Problem".
Go To Amazon Product Page

* - See Amazon Product Page for shipping and pricing details.


Book Subjects