Quantum Methods with Mathematica

The teaching and learning of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics have in recent years been profoundly affected by two developments. First, advances in experimental technique, especially in quantum optics and electronics and in neutron interferometry, have turned many quantum phenomena and "thought experiments," which previously had only been the subject of hypothetical inferences, into laboratory reality. The other line of progress has been, after much premature advertising, the advent of computational physics as a tool of the trade that now belongs, and fits, into every student's bag. Quantum Methods with Mathematica® places itself comfortably four-square in our contemporary culture by using the full technology of Mathematica as its pedagogic environment. I confess that I approached the manuscript of this text with apprehension, fearing that, with no previous exposure to Mathematica and well past the nimble age, I might quickly come to grief and frustration. As I write this, I have survived the course, and I have learned the wonders (and some of the foibles) of Mathematica, as well as some new things about quantum mechanics. And, under Jim Feagin's deft guidance, the experience has been fun!