TENSORS made easy with SOLVED PROBLEMS

by Giancarlo Bernacchi

-- New MARCH 2021 REVISED RELEASE -- A friendly and non-formal approach to a subject of abstract mathematics that has important applications in physics, especially in General Relativity, but also in other fields. The purpose of the book is mainly didactic and requires some mathematical background (differential calculus, partial derivatives included).

Genres: Mathematics, Science, Physics

304 pages, Paperback

First published August 6, 2015

Reviews

[WarpDrive · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent (both academically and pedagogically speaking), treatise on one of the most fundamental mathematical structures handled in General Relativity: tensors.

Conceptually lucid, extremely clear and almost devoid of typos (I could only identify 4 of them, all minor), and consistently providing great transparency to the author's underlying line of reasoning, this is one of the best introductions to Tensorial Analysis that I have ever found.

Aimed at upper undergraduate or graduate students, with a particular focus on the applications to General Relativity, and gifted with a comprehensive collection of solved exercises, this book is a great tool in achieving a greater understanding and proficiency in this subject area.
The learning curve is never too steep, and the author's visual approach (aided by his original and highly effective "mosaic tessera" graphical metaphor) provides great didactic support.

All major areas of tensorial analysis are well covered by this book, and the progression to more complex subjects (such as curved manifolds, intrinsic and extrinsic curvature, the local flatness theorem, the definition of geodesic, the Riemann and Ricci tensors, isotropic spaces, the Einstein tensor etc.) is generally gentle and ultimately very rewarding.
In the last chapter, the fundamental equation of General Relativity (relating the energy-momentum tensor with the Einstein tensor representing the curvature of spacetime), comes up very naturally, almost as a necessary logical conclusion to all previous conceptual and mathematical steps.

This is a real gem, an absolute pleasure to read, whose only (minor) flaw is the occasionally bizarre (if not plainly incorrect) translation from the author's native Italian into English.

Very highly recommended, and a well-deserved 5-star rating.

[Paige McLoughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really can't rate this but I did. The print is too small. It is like a microfiche in book form. I saw some things I recognized from Tensor Math but I watched a ton of youtube videos on the subject. If I can get a print copy made for human eyes maybe I would be able to better assess if the book is any good.

[Paige McLoughlin]

I really can't rate this but I did. The print is too small. It is like a microfiche in book form. I saw some things I recognized from Tensor Math but I watched a ton of youtube videos on the subject. If I can get a print copy made for human eyes maybe I would be able to better assess if the book is any good.
2 likes · Like ∙ flag
following reviews


READING PROGRESS
December 20, 2020 – Shelved
December 20, 2020 – Shelved as: to-read
December 28, 2020 – Started Reading
December 29, 2020 – page 5
1.63% "the print is quite small this is gonna be hard on these 53-year-old eyes."
December 29, 2020 – page 69
22.55% "Now I know why physics is for young people the print is too small for old eyes."
December 29, 2020 – page 111
36.27% "Okay, this small print is a problem. I recognize some things but that is only because I watched a whole bunch of youtube videos on tensors. I can imagine someone my age trying to read this cold. It isn't pretty."
December 29, 2020 – page 111
36.27% "Jesus Christ it's microfiche on paper."
December 29, 2020 – Shelved as: astronomy-and-cosmology
December 29, 2020 – Shelved as: general-science
December 29, 2020 – Shelved as: mathematics
December 29, 2020 – Shelved as: physics
December 29, 2020 – Finished Reading