The Mathematical Radio
Inside the Magic of AM, FM, and Single-Sideband
Paul Nahin
- 320 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
The Mathematical Radio
Inside the Magic of AM, FM, and Single-Sideband
Paul Nahin
About This Book
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 schoolâlevel 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.
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Contents
- Foreword by 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
- 6. American AM Broadcast Radio: A Historical Postscript
- A Final Authorâs Note to the Reader
- AppendixâMaxwellâs 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
- Acknowledgments
- Illustration Credits
- Index