Applied Linear Algebra: The Decoupling Principle

By Lorenzo Sadun

A useful reference, this book could easily be subtitled: All the Linear Algebra I Learned from Doing Physics that I Wished Somebody had Taught Me First . Built upon the principles of diagonalization... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0130856452
• ISBN13: 9780130856456
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Length: 349 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Very clear for a graduate-level textbook

I used this textbook when taking Columbia University's APMA 4001: Principles of Applied Math, which is an intro-level graduate class in applied mathematics. As far as math textbooks go, this text is extremely clear and easy to read. It begins with a review of undergraduate linear algebra and proceeds to a rigorous treatment of eigenvalues and eigenvectors before ending with singular value decomposition and infinite-dimensional vector spaces. Sadun makes liberal use of examples to flesh out the concepts of the text. I also lent it to a co-worker for self-study in SVD for use in a graphics software program, and he commented that the book is very good for self-study. Overall, I would rate this as the most clear graduate textbook that I have used.

well suited for the physics student

The book is good for both the pure mathematician and the physicist; where the latter wants perhaps a more formal treatment of the maths behind quantum mechanics. There is a lot of space devoted to looking at Hermitian matrices/operators and the basic concepts like Gram-Schmidt orthogonalisation. The choice of notation also includes using the bracket symbols of quantum mechanics, which should make the physics student comfortable, by emphasising the connection to the descriptions in her physics texts. The treatment of the Dirac delta function is well done, with better rigour than usually seen in the physics books. If you are uneasy with the handwaving in the latter when it comes to this function [a quite common occurrence], then this book gives a more sophisticated analysis.