McQuarrie wrote the book to address a practical gap: many chemistry students encounter mathematical techniques in courses (quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, kinetics, spectroscopy) but lack a focused, chemistry-centered treatment of those techniques. The book’s scope centers on methods most often used in physical chemistry:
Importantly, this math book is designed to be a direct prequel to his Physical Chemistry: A Molecular Approach . If you work through the Mathematics book, you will find that Chapter 15 of the P-Chem textbook (Statistical Mechanics) becomes nearly trivial. The notation is consistent. The variable naming is consistent. This is a rare case where two textbooks form a single, cohesive learning trajectory. mathematics for physical chemistry donald a. mcquarrie
