Applied Dimensional Analysis and Modeling

Thomas Szirtes' _Applied Dimensional Analysis and Modeling_ is an encyclopedic beast of a book. There are many, many worked examples, both standards that are found in Bridgeman and others (like the period of a pendulum), and novel ones. It also has all of the tricks that allow for effective use of the techniques of dimensional analysis in more complicated problems like breaking the mass into inertial and gravitational aspects to solve problems (and send your thoughts down the road of bad philosophy). For this reason alone it is a useful book. It has some problems, however, that make it difficult for me to recommend the book to someone who doesn't have a good grasp of units, dimensions, and the difference between the two, even though Szirtes intends the book for those with only "an inquisitive mind and a knowledge of basic mechanics and electricity" and "elementary matrix arithmetic." These problems are: 1. Szirtes' use of dimensions and units is non-standard, calling meters a dimension rather than a unit, making ideas like coversion more difficult and some of the examples more convoluted than they need to be, 2. Many of the problems and examples have implied units, so that he might write a formula for velocity in terms of time as v = 9.81 t + 3.2 [this is not in the text, I use it because it's simple], 3. The more mathematical sections include sloppy proofs that, in my view, don't yield any additional understanding. These are all serious problems for a beginner, who could pick up some bad habits from the book. Something that makes the book a little less useful than it could be is a paucity of electricity and magnetism examples, which are mechanics heavy. I think this book would be a good introduction for someone with a solid background in physics or engineering or someone who has looked at a less challenging or thorough book in dimensional analysis (such as Bridgeman). I also think it is also a good book for instructors, being a treasure trove of examples, even if they should be sanitized before being given to students.

The only extensive yet comprehensible treatment of this important subject

Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2009