Introduction to Electrodynamics
Introduction to Electrodynamics is a textbook by physicist
Griffiths said he was able to reduce the price of his textbook on quantum mechanics simply by changing the publisher, from Pearson to Cambridge University Press.[2] He has done the same with this one. (See the ISBN in the box to the right.)
Contents
The front cover of fourth edition has a picture of the handwritten
Table of contents (5th edition)
- Preface
- Advertisement
- Chapter 1: Vector Analysis
- Chapter 2: Electrostatics
- Chapter 3: Potentials
- Chapter 4: Electric Fields in Matter
- Chapter 5: Magnetostatics
- Chapter 6: Magnetic Fields in Matter
- Chapter 7: Electrodynamics
- Intermission
- Chapter 8: Conservation Laws
- Chapter 9: Electromagnetic Waves
- Chapter 10: Potentials and Fields
- Chapter 11: Radiation
- Chapter 12: Electrodynamics and Relativity
- Appendix A: Vector Calculus in Curvilinear Coordinates
- Appendix B: The Helmholtz Theorem
- Appendix C: Units
- Index
Reception
Paul D. Scholten, a professor at
According to Robert W. Scharstein from the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Alabama, the mathematics used in the third edition is just enough to convey the subject and the problems are valuable teaching tools that do not involve the "plug and chug disease." Although students of electrical engineering are not expected to encounter complicated boundary-value problems in their career,[note 1] this book is useful to them as well, because of its emphasis on conceptual rather than mathematical issues. He argued that with this book, it is possible to skip the more mathematically involved sections to the more conceptually interesting topics, such as antennas. Moreover, the tone is clear and entertaining. Using this book "rejuvenated" his enthusiasm for teaching the subject.[6]
Colin Inglefield, an associate professor of physics at Weber State University (Utah), commented that the third edition is notable for its informal and conversational style that may appeal to a large class of students. The ordering of its chapters and its contents are fairly standard and are similar to texts at the same level. The first chapter offers a valuable review of vector calculus, which is essential for understanding this subject. While most other authors, including those aimed at a more advanced audience, denote the distance from the source point to the field point by , Griffiths uses a script (see figure).
Physicists Yoni Kahn of Princeton University and Adam Anderson of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory indicated that Griffiths' Electrodynamics offers a dependable treatment of all materials in the electromagnetism section of the Physics Graduate Record Examinations (Physics GRE) except circuit analysis.[8]
Editions
- OCLC 6092643.
- OCLC 18988461.
- OCLC 40251748.
- OCLC 794711764.
- ISBN 978-1-009-39775-9.
See also
- Introduction to Quantum Mechanics (textbook) by the same author
- Classical Electrodynamics (textbook) by John David Jackson, a commonly used graduate-level textbook.
- List of textbooks in electromagnetism
- List of textbooks on classical and quantum mechanics
- List of textbooks in thermodynamics and statistical mechanics
- List of books on general relativity
Notes
- ^ Actually this is true about most of branches in electrical engineering, not all of them. See list of textbooks in electromagnetism for more information.
- ^ Griffiths' Reed College faculty website contains a special script for creating in LaTeX.
References
- ^ "Notes from the Outside Special: Meet David J. Griffiths" (PDF). The Dilated Times: The newsletter of the Drew University Society of Physics Students. Vol. 13, no. 2. Spring 2003. pp. 4–5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-04-22. Retrieved 2018-08-19.
- ^ a b Greg Bernhardt. Interview with a Physicist: David J. Griffiths. Physics Forum Insights. September 17, 2016.
- ISBN 978-1-009-39773-5.
- ISBN 978-1-009-39773-5.
- JSTOR 27851263.
- S2CID 45624248.
- .
- ISBN 978-1-108-40956-8.
Further reading
- Zangwill, Andrew (2013). Modern Electrodynamics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521896979. A graduate textbook.