Beginning Mathematics for Chemistry by Stephen K. Scott

Reviewed by Linda C. Bush Chemistry Department, Salisbury State University Salisbury, MD 21801 LCBUSH@ssu.edu

Beginning Mathematics for Chemistry by Stephen K. Scott. Oxford University Press, Oxford, England. 1995. ISBN: 019855930 5.

College- and university-level chemistry instructors are often heard bemoaning their students' lack of preparation in math. Stephen K. Scott offers one alternative approach to this problem with his short workbook Beginning Mathematics for Chemistry. In fact, this is apparently the first volume in the new Workbooks in Chemistry series Scott is editing for Oxford University Press.

The slim workbook is framed as a sort of "workout". The initial chapters, which focus on algebra and exponents, are labeled as "warm-up" and "gentle stretching" exercises. The heart of the book deals with differential and integral calculus. Exercises for "warming down" and "relaxing" involve trigonometry, complex numbers, and statistics. Such exercises, whether for remediation or reminder, would indeed be useful for chemistry majors. However, it seems that the layout and order of topics may reflect some (unfortunate?) differences between British and American curricula.

Students in many American college chemistry courses are either taking calculus concurrently, or may not be required to take calculus at all. While algebraic manipulations, calculations with fractions, and logarithms are covered early in the text, means and "best-straight-line" graphs are left to the end. To this reviewer, those are the core math skills in which so many students lack proficiency. As a workbook for the serious chemistry, physics, or engineering major, or for students at selective schools, however, this text would probably be very applicable and helpful. For those who may find this book useful, the format is amenable for self-directed study, group work, or tutorial settings.

There are numerous examples of each type of manipulation, and terms and processes are well-defined and clearly illustrated. The published aim is "to provide students with a mathematical 'toolkit', developing their skills through practice, with examples based on familiar material from first-year chemistry courses." In fact, drill-type problems are more plentiful than the chemistry-related examples, but all are arranged in a very usable workbook format. Answers to problems are provided at the bottom of the same page, to give quick feedback.

It is somewhat disconcerting that some chemistry examples seem beyond the scope of most general chemistry curricula and possibly beyond the grasp of most freshman chemistry students. One example, which involves the determination of concentrations of two colored species in solution using manipulations of the Beer–Lambert law, while mathematically simple, seems more conceptually applicable to an analytical chemistry course. An example in the calculus sections deals with thermodynamics of expansion or compression of gases, and seems much more appropriate for a physical chemistry course. In some contexts, the most appropriate use of this text might be for upper-level students who seek a refresher before their physical or analytical chemistry course, or for students in advanced or majors' sections of general chemistry.

On the cosmetic side, the black-and-white text is not flashy. Perhaps future editions might employ, if not color, at least some gray shading to help give visual relief. Without any variation in some sections, things seem to run together in such a way that it is difficult to distinguish among definitions, examples, and problems to be worked.