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  • © 2015

Inside Interesting Integrals

A Collection of Sneaky Tricks, Sly Substitutions, and Numerous Other Stupendously Clever, Awesomely Wicked, and Devilishly Seductive Maneuvers for Computing Nearly 200 Perplexing Definite Integrals From Physics, Engineering, and Mathematics (Plus 60 Challenge Problems with Complete, Detailed Solutions)

Authors:

  • A "recipe book" with many valuable little-known integration techniques
  • Written with an accessible and easy-to-follow style by acclaimed popular science author and engineering professor Paul Nahin
  • Includes rarely-taught problem solving techniques including Feynman's favorite, differentiation under the integral
  • With worked-out and thoroughly explained practice problems
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics (ULNP)

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxiii
  2. Introduction

    • Paul J. Nahin
    Pages 1-41
  3. ‘Easy’ Integrals

    • Paul J. Nahin
    Pages 43-71
  4. Feynman’s Favorite Trick

    • Paul J. Nahin
    Pages 73-116
  5. Gamma and Beta Function Integrals

    • Paul J. Nahin
    Pages 117-147
  6. Using Power Series to Evaluate Integrals

    • Paul J. Nahin
    Pages 149-185
  7. Seven Not-So-Easy Integrals

    • Paul J. Nahin
    Pages 187-223
  8. Using \( \sqrt{-1} \) to Evaluate Integrals

    • Paul J. Nahin
    Pages 225-278
  9. Contour Integration

    • Paul J. Nahin
    Pages 279-341
  10. Epilogue

    • Paul J. Nahin
    Pages 343-367
  11. Back Matter

    Pages 369-412

About this book

What’s the point of calculating definite integrals since you can’t possibly do them all?.

What makes doing the specific integrals in this book of value aren’t the specific answers we’ll obtain, but rather the methods we’ll use in obtaining those answers; methods you can use for evaluating the integrals you will encounter in the future.

This book is written in a light-hearted manner for students who have completed the first year of college or high school AP calculus and have just a bit of exposure to the concept of a differential equation. Every result is fully derived. If you are fascinated by definite integrals, then this is a book for you.

Reviews

“The main purpose of the author is not to calculate specific integrals and obtain specific answers, but to present several tricks and methods which are used to obtain those answers. … The book is published in the series Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics and it will probably be physicists and students of physics who will be the majority of its readers. … mathematicians also may find many interesting things there.” (Krzysztof Ciesielski, Mathematical Reviews, July, 2015)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of New Hampshire, Durham, USA

    Paul J. Nahin

About the author

Paul Nahin was born in California, and did all of his schooling there (Brea-Olinda High 1958, Stanford BS 1962, Caltech MS 1963 and - as a Howard Hughes Staff Doctoral Fellow - UC/Irvine PhD 1972, with all degrees in electrical engineering). He has taught at Harvey Mudd College, the Naval Postgraduate School and the Universities of New Hampshire (where he is now emeritus professor of electrical engineering) and Virginia.

Prof. Nahin has published a couple of dozen short science fiction stories in ANALOG, OMNI and TWILIGHT ZONE magazines, and has written 14 books on mathematics and physics. He has given invited talks on mathematics at Bowdoin College, the Claremont Graduate School, the University of Tennessee and Caltech, has appeared on National Public Radio's "Science Friday" show (discussing time travel) as well as on New Hampshire Public Radio's "The Front Porch" show (discussing imaginary numbers) and advised Boston's WGBH Public Television's "Nova" program on the script for their time travel episode. He gave the invited Sampson Lectures for 2011 in Mathematics at Bates College (Lewiston, Maine).

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 34.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access