Student's Guide to Waves

Waves are an important topic in the fields of mechanics, electromagnetism, and quantum theory, but many students struggle with the mathematical aspects. Written to complement course textbooks, this book focuses on the topics that students find most difficult. Retaining the highly popular approach used in Fleisch's other Student's Guides, the book uses plain language to explain fundamental ideas in a simple and clear way. Exercises and fully-worked examples help readers test their understanding of the concepts, making this an ideal book for undergraduates in physics and engineering trying to get to grips with this challenging subject. The book is supported by a suite of online resources available at These include interactive solutions for every exercise and problem in the text and a series of video podcasts in which the authors explain the important concepts of every section of the book.

“'I recommend this supplementary textbook as clear tutorial for the understanding of the basic concepts of waves and the wave equation with its applications to mechanics, electromagnetic waves and the Schrӧdinger equation. … It is written for undergraduates in physics and engineering, but it also has exceptional value to a wider readership. … Physical insights that are helpful for a deep understanding of waves are uniquely presented. The text is supplemented with clear and useful graphs. The book's website contains additional resources: worked solutions to all problems, animated graphics, a few errata, and author podcasts to augment all the chapters.' Barry R. Masters, Optics and Photonics News”

'I recommend this supplementary textbook as a clear tutorial for understanding the basic concepts of waves and the wave equation with its applications to mechanics, electromagnetic waves and the Schr dinger equation. ... It is written for undergraduates in physics and engineering, but it also has exceptional value to a wider readership. ... Physical insights that are helpful for a deep understanding of waves are uniquely presented. The text is supplemented with clear and useful graphs. The book's website contains additional resources: worked solutions to all problems, animated graphics, a few errata, and author podcasts to augment all the chapters.' Barry R. Masters, Optics and Photonics News "I recommend this supplementary textbook as clear tutorial for the understanding of the basic concepts of waves and the wave equation with its applications to mechanics, electromagnetic waves and the Schr dinger equation. ... It is written for undergraduates in physics and engineering, but it also has exceptional value to a wider readership. ... Physical insights that are helpful for a deep understanding of waves are uniquely presented. The text is supplemented with clear and useful graphs. The book's website contains additional resources: worked solutions to all problems, animated graphics, a few errata, and author podcasts to augment all the chapters."
Barry R. Masters, Optics and Photonics News

Daniel Fleisch is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at Wittenberg University, where he specializes in electromagnetics and space physics. He is the author of A Student's Guide to Maxwell's Equations (Cambridge University Press, 2008).

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