Mathematical radio : inside the magic of AM, FM, and single-sideband / Paul J. Nahin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nahin, Paul J., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Radio--Transmitters and transmission--Mathematics.

Radio.

Radio circuits--Mathematical models.

Radio circuits.

Radio--Mathematics.

Radio--History.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2025.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

How a modern radio works, told through mathematics, history, and selected puzzles The modern radio is a wonder, and behind that magic is mathematics. In The Mathematical Radio, Paul Nahin explains how radios work, deploying mathematics and historical discussion, accompanied by a steady stream of intriguing puzzles for math buffs to ponder. Beginning with oscillators and circuits, then moving on to AM, FM, and single-sideband radio, Nahin focuses on the elegant mathematics underlying radio technology rather than the engineering. He explores and explains more than a century of key developments, placing them in historical and technological context. Nahin, a prolific author of books on math for the general reader, describes in fascinating detail the mathematical underpinnings of a technology we use daily. He explains and solves, for example, Maxwell's equations for the electromagnetic field. Readers need only a familarity with advanced high school-level math to follow Nahin's mathematical discussions. Writing with the nonengineer in mind, Nahin examines topics including impulses in time and frequency, spectrum shifting at the transmitter, the superheterodyne, the physics of single-sideband radio, and FM sidebands. Chapters end with "challenge problems" and an appendix offers solutions, partial answers, and hints. Readers will come away with a new appreciation for the beauty of even the most useful mathematics.

Contents:

Frontmatter

A Note to the Reader of the Paperback Edition

Contents

Foreword to The Mathematical Radio / Andrew J. Simoson

Preface

Chapter 1 Radio Mathematics, Oscillators, and Transmitters

Chapter 2 More Radio Mathematics: Circuits That Multiply

Chapter 3 The AM Radio Receiver

Chapter 4 SSB Radio

Chapter 5 FM Radio

Chapter 6 American AM Broadcast Radio: A Historical Postscript

A Final Author's Note to the Reader

Appendix. Maxwell's Theory, the Poynting Vector, and a Simple Radio Transmitting Antenna

Solutions, Partial Answers, and More Hints to Most of the End-of-Chapter Challenge Problems in The Mathematical Radio

Acknowledgments

Illustration Credits

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (De Gruyter Brill, viewed January 16, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version : Nahin Paul J., Mathematical radio,

ISBN:

9780691278964

0691278962

OCLC:

1536388685

Publisher Number:

CIPO000311383

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license