math and physics play

Classical mechanics notes on Amazon in paperback (but don’t buy a copy!)

October 13, 2020 math and physics play ,

I have a fairly monstrous set of classical mechanics notes that I accumulated when I was learning all about the theory of Lagrangians, Hamiltonians, and Noether’s theorem.

I also audited a few of the classes from the 2012 session of PHY354H1S, Advanced Classical Mechanics, taught by Prof. Erich Poppitz, at the University of Toronto, and have some notes and problems from those classes in this set of notes.

These notes are not self contained.  In particular, there is fairly heavy use of geometric algebra in many of the problems, with assumptions that the reader is proficient with that algebra.

These notes (436 pages, 6″x9″) are available in the following formats:

  • for free in PDF format (colour),
  • on Amazon in paperback (black and white),
  • as latex sources.

I’ve pressed the publish button on kindle-direct-publishing so that I could get a paper copy of these notes for myself.  An extremely vicious edit is required.  Until I do that editing (assuming I do), the price is set to the absolute minimum no commission price that Amazon let’s me offer (i.e. printing cost plus profit for Amazon.)  I wouldn’t actually recommend that anybody buy this in it’s current form — download the pdf if you are interested.

I’m actually toying with the idea of rewriting these notes from scratch, creating an “Advanced Classical Mechanics, with Geometric Algebra” book out of some of the ideas.  I could flush out many of the details that I explored originally, but add some actual structure and coherence to this mess of write-once-read-none junk.  Tying things to a geometric algebra theme would be the value add proposition that could distinguish things from all the other classical mechanics books in the universe.

That said, this idea would be a very tough book project (for me), as I’d have to understand all the material enough to present it in a coherent fashion.  I’d want to include and explore both Euclidean and relativistic Lagrangians, which would make the material tougher, but comprehensive.  I don’t like the idea of assuming the reader is familiar with special relativity, but the thought of me having to include a self contained introduction to that topic that isn’t complete garbage is pretty intimidating.  Especially if you consider that I’d also want to introduce STA, and help the reader understand the connections between all that material.  There’s a lot of ideas that would all have to come together!

Notes for ece1228 (Electromagnetic Theory) now in book form on Amazon.

September 26, 2020 math and physics play ,

My notes for ece1228 (Electromagnetic Theory) are now available in book form on Amazon.

This version omits all assigned problem solutions (but includes some self-generated problem solutions.)  As such, it is very short.  I published it so that I could get a copy (of the non-redacted version) for myself , but in the unlikely chance that somebody else is interested I’ve left the redacted version in published state (available very cheaply.)  Feel free to contact me for the full (pdf) version if you are not taking the course (and don’t intend to.)

The official course description at the time was:

Fundamentals: Maxwell’s equations, constitutive relations and boundary conditions, wave polarization. Field representations: potentials, Green’s functions and integral equations. Theorems and concepts: duality, uniqueness, images, equivalence, reciprocity and Babinet’s principles. Plane, cylindrical and spherical waves and waveguides. radiation and scattering.

New material (for me) in this course was limited to:

  • dispersion relations.
  • Druid-Lorentz model
  • quadropole moments
  • magnetic moments, magnetostatic force, and torque (mentioned in class without details, but studied from Jackson)
  • matrix representation of transmission and reflection through multiple interfaces

Antenna theory notes available on amazon

June 8, 2020 ece1229, math and physics play , ,

I’ve received my copy of my bound Antenna Theory notes today:

I wanted a copy for myself, but don’t expect that anybody else would buy this particular notes compilation.  The course was taught from slides, and it was almost impossible to take good notes, so these aren’t much good without also having the (excellent) course text (Balanis.)

The two possible reasons to buy or download this notes compilation would be:

  • to peruse the solved problems, or
  • for the geometric algebra and tensor formalism exploration that followed from wondering how to deal with the magnetic sources that are used in this subject.

These notes are available for free in PDF form.  Should somebody other than me want to purchase their own copy on paper, it can be found on amazon for $8.50 USD.  I’ve set the price as close to amazon’s absolute minimum required price of $8.28, while also rounding up to a tidy multiple of $0.25

I find it curious that amazon requires a higher price (and royalty) just by virtue of enabling expanded distribution.  Since I wanted to buy my copy locally in the Canadian amazon marketplace (amazon.ca) to utilize my local prime shipping subscription, I had to set the price higher for all markets, including the US market (amazon.com).  Because shipping from the US to Canada is so high, it is cheaper for me to buy an aftermarket version using prime shipping from Canada, than to utilize kindle-direct-publishing’s option of buying an author draft (which would only be cost effective if I lived in the USA.)

 

EDIT: I misunderstood what Expanded Distribution (ED) meant.  This is to sell to markets that are outside of the 6 or so official amazon marketplaces (USA, Canada, UK, Germany, …, Japan).  I’ll probably take this book off of ED and lower the price instead.

Crashing Mathematica with HatchShading + Opacity

May 31, 2020 math and physics play , , ,

I attempted to modify a plot for an electric field solution that I had in my old Antenna-Theory notes:
\begin{equation}\label{eqn:advancedantennaProblemSet3Problem1:n}
\BE
=
j \omega
\frac{\mu_0 I_{\textrm{eo}} l}{4 \pi r} e^{-j k r}
\lr{ 1 + \cos\theta }
\lr{
-\cos\phi \thetacap
+ \sin\phi \phicap
},
\end{equation}
and discovered that you can crash Mathematica (12.1.0.0) by combining PlotStyle with Opacity and HatchShading (new in 12.1).  Here’s a stripped down version of the plot code that demonstrates the crash:

ClearAll[ rcap]
rcap = {Sin[#1] Cos[#2], Sin[#1] Sin[#2], Cos[#1]} & ;

{
ParametricPlot3D[
rcap[t, p]
, {t, 0, π}
, {p, 0, 2 π}
, PlotStyle -> { HatchShading[0.5, Black]}
]
, ParametricPlot3D[
rcap[t, p]
, {t, 0, π}
, {p, 0, 2 π}
, PlotStyle -> {Directive[Opacity[0.5`]]}
], ParametricPlot3D[
rcap[t,p]
,{t,0,π}
,{p,0,2 π}
,PlotStyle\[Rule]{Directive[Opacity[0.5`]], HatchShading[0.5, \
Black]}
]
}

The first two plots, using one, but not both of, Opacity or HatchShading work fine:

In this reproducer, the little dimple at the base has been removed, which was the reason for the Opacity.

I’ve reported the bug to Wolfram, but wonder if they are going to come back to me saying, “Well, don’t do that!”

 

EDIT: Fixed in Mathematica 12.1.1

My collection of Peeter Joot physics paperbacks

May 22, 2020 math and physics play , , , , , , , ,

I ordered a copy of my old PHY456 Quantum Mechanics II notes for myself, and it arrived today!  Here it is with it’s buddies (Grad QM and QFT):

With the shipping cost from the US to Canada (because I’m now paying for amazon prime anyways) it’s actually cheaper for me to get a regular copy than to order an author proof, so this time I have no “not for resale” banding.

This little stack of Quantum notes weighs in at about 1050 pages, and makes a rather impressive pile.  There’s a lot of info there, for the bargain price of either free or about $30 USD, depending on whether you want a PDF or print copy of this set.  Of course, most people want neither, and get all their quantum mechanics through osmosis from the engineering of the microchips and electronics in their phones and computers.

I have to admit that it’s a fun ego boost to see your name in print.  In order to maximize the ego boost, you can use my strategy and do large scale vanity press, making a multiple volume set for yourself.  Here’s my whole collection, which includes the bulk of my course notes, plus my little book:

Based on the height of the stack, I’d guess this is about 3000 pages total, the product of about 10 years of study and work.

Making these all available for free to anybody in PDF form surely cripples my potential physical copy sales volume, but that doesn’t matter too much since I’ve set the price so low that I only get a token payment for each copy anyways.  Based on linear extrapolation of my sales so far, I’ll recoup my tuition costs (not counting the opportunity cost of working part time while I took the courses) after another 65 years of royalties.