Mathematical Modelling for Earth Sciences

As he carefully balances formality and practicality, Yang (civil, structural and environmental engineering, U. of Cambridge) supports both mathematicians and non-mathematicians as they study mathematical modeling and computer simulations in geophysical, environmental and geological processes. Yang takes a largely "theorem free" approach but still applies appropriate rigor in his coverage of mathematical modeling, calculus and complex variables, vectors and matrices, ordinary differential equations and integral transforms, partial differential equations and solution techniques, the calculus of variations, probability, geostatistics, numerical integration, and the finite difference method, finite volume method and finite element method. Applications include a reaction-diffusion system, elasticity and poroelasticity, and flow in porous media. Yang includes very good appendices on mathematical formulae and computer programs, and the final result is both rigorous and elegant, suitable for both classroom use and self-study. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Xin-She Yang received his DPhil in applied mathematics from the University of Oxford, he is currently a research fellow at the University of Cambridge.