Taking a Mathematical Methods course is kind of walking a grey line between math and physics - many of the parameters surrounding your actual physical problem are abstracted away to focus on the mathematics.  A similar problem exists for the converse in math textbooks (particularly calculus textbooks) which try to include the details of a physical problem to set up mathematical equations.<br><br>Boas' book is a happy medium, and a far cry from the horrible textbook that plagued everyone in my undergraduate course.  The class actually petitioned the instructor to change the textbook from the one assigned to this one.  It's a little on the easy side, but it certainly doesn't lack in the detail or rigor one would expect from a math textbook, nor does it ignore physical applications and explanations like one might expect from a math textbook.  Given the price at which I purchased it, I am very happy.<br><br>That said, the quality of the manufacturing is poor for the (new, unused) version I received.  Leaflets of pages were actually loose and fell out of the book as I thumbed through it..  There was a hole in the middle of one of the pages - I don't even know how that happens.  The entire thing feels "held together" rather than constructed.  This isn't an issue for me, and as such I didn't take a star off, but ymmv.