Methods of Mathematical Physics I

IUCAA - NCRA Graduate School

04 August - 26 September 2014

Things to remember:

• To contact me anytime, remember that my office number in NCRA is F236; the phone number is (020) 25719270. In case you want to contact me and do not find me in office, send me an email to tirth at ncra.tifr.res.in.
• Your tutor for the course would be Prakash Gaikwad <prakashg at ncra.tifr.res.in>.
• Any information/updates/news about the course will be put up at the webpage http://www.ncra.tifr.res.in/~tirth/Teaching/MMP-I/index.html. Make sure you check the webpage periodically.
  
• The course is supposed to be consisting of 21 contact hours. Since I prefer to take lectures of 1.5 hours duration, the course will consist of approximately 15 lectures. The lectures will be held at the rate of 3 lectures per week, so that they are over by 12 September (accounting for any loss of lectures due to holidays etc).
• There will be a break during the week 15-19 September so that you can prepare for the final examination. The final examination is tentatively scheduled on 24 September.
• There will be three class tests (quizzes) and one final examination which will be used for evaluating the course.
• The class tests will be based on whatever would have been covered till the end of previous lecture. They will consist of problems which require short calculations and you will be allowed to consult your class notes during the tests.
• You will be allowed to consult your class notes during the final examination too.
• In case you are interested in solving problems beyond these tests, I will be happy to put up problem sheets on the webpage for you to try out. These would not be used for any evaluation for the course.
• The evaluation procedure is the following: Your final average score will be computed giving 50% weightage to final exam and 50% to the assignments.

Course Outline:

• Fourier Analysis
• Green's Functions
• Differential Equations

Reading List:

• George B. Arfken & Hans J. Weber (1995), Mathematical Methods for Physicists, Academic Press
• Roel Snieder (2001), Mathemtical Methods for the Physical Sciences, Cambridge University Press
• Jon Mathews & R. L. Walker, Mathemtical Methods of Physics (2nd Edition), Addison-Wesley Publishing Company