Meaningful learning, physical chemistry

Mathematical operations occur regularly both in the theory and problems of physical chemistry, contributing greatly to the complexity of the subject. Mathematics is essential for the meaningful learning of physical chemistry, but for this to happen it must be coupled with understanding of the underlying physical concepts. 

An obstacle faced by many chemistry students in learning quantum mechanics is their unfamiliarity with much of the required mathematics. In this text I have included detailed treatments of the needed mathematics. Rather than putting all the mathematics in an introductory chapter or a series of appendices, I have integrated the mathematics with the physics and chemistry. Immediate application of the mathematics to solving a quantum-mechanical problem will make the mathematics more meaningful to students than would separate study of the mathematics. I have also kept in mind the limited physics background of many chemistry students by reviewing topics in physics. 

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