Electromagnetic Fields and Waves

Intended for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, this well-known and popular textbook provides an introduction to the physical principles, mathematical apparatus, and typical applications of classical electromagnetic theory. Beginning with the notion of scalar fields, Professor Rojansky leads the student through vectors and vector fields, the laws of Ohm, Joule, Coulomb, and Faraday, static electricity, and continues all the way to Maxwell’s equations for bodies at rest, and to examples of electromagnetic waves. A particularly useful feature of the book is the author’s introduction and explanation of the necessary mathematics as he goes along, rather than presuming student understanding. Although an extensive background is not necessary, a general knowledge of physics and calculus is a prerequisite. Throughout the book, the development of each topic is explicit and unhurried, an approach intended to avoid basic misconceptions that lead to major misunderstandings later on. Short exercises help the student test his grasp of the material, and the text is studded with diagrams and illustrations that supplement the content and elucidate many hard-to-visualize concepts. The book ends at a point where the use of Maxwell’s equations in several important problems has been illustrated, and students are prepared to proceed to a variety of further topics. Professor Rojansky brings many years of experience both as a teacher and a scientist (including ten years of advanced research at TRW Space Technologies Laboratories) to this lucid discussion of the fundamentals of electromagnetic fields and waves. His extensive pedagogical background enables him to communicate difficult concepts with great clarity.