Author: James Hopwood Jeans

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2016-09-17

Total Pages: 640

ISBN-13: 9781333650513

Excerpt from The Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism The range is very approximately that of Maxwell's original Treatise, but the present book is in many respects more elementary than that of Maxwell. Maxwell's Treatise was written for the fully-equipped mathematician: the present book is written more especially for the student, and for the physicist of limited mathematical attainments. The questions of mathematical analysis which are treated in the text have been inserted in the places where they are first needed for the development of the physical theory, in the belief that, in many cases, the mathematical and physical theories illuminate one another by being studied simultaneously. For example, brief sketches of the theories of spherical, zonal and ellipsoidal harmonics are given in the chapter on Special Problems in Electrostatics, interwoven with the study of harmonic potentials and electrical applications: Stokes' Theorem is similarly given in connection with the magnetic vector-potential, and so on. One result of this arrangement is to destroy, at least in appearance, the balance of the amounts of space allotted to the different parts of the subject. For instance, more than half the book appears to be devoted to Electrostatics, but this space will, perhaps, not seem excessive when it is noticed how many of the pages in the Electrostatic part of the book are devoted to non-electrical subjects in applied mathematics (potential-theory, theory of stress, or in pure mathematics (green's Theorem, harmonic analysis, complex variable, Fourier's series, conjugate functions, curvilinear coordinates. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.