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I am a second year undergraduate and studying quantum mechanics from sakurai's 'Modern Quantum Mechanics'. Is it a good idea to solve problems from sakurai, which are mostly mathematical in nature? I need a textbook that has physically relevant problems, maybe going even into condensed matter, or field theory in its exercises. This would probably help me to appreciate and understand qm better. Sorry if this question is too localised but I just had to post it.

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  • $\begingroup$ Most physically relevant problems you encounter in current research would require some form of field theory. I'd suggest working through the first volume and then working through the second volume. $\endgroup$
    – Antillar Maximus
    Commented Sep 9, 2012 at 20:32
  • $\begingroup$ Whatever you end up doing, be it experimental or theoretical physics, knowledge of the mathematical foundations of quantum physics will be very helpful to you. If you are an experimentalist you will need to understand the theory in order to translate it into experimental terms and if you are a theorist, well then I imagine I do not need to convince you that maths is essential. $\endgroup$
    – SMeznaric
    Commented Sep 10, 2012 at 11:50
  • $\begingroup$ @SMeznaric: I am actually interested in theoretical physics, but I wanted a more 'physical' approach to QM. $\endgroup$
    – user7757
    Commented Sep 10, 2012 at 12:17
  • $\begingroup$ Possible duplicates: physics.stackexchange.com/q/10325/2451 and links therein. $\endgroup$
    – Qmechanic ♦
    Commented Feb 8, 2014 at 9:15

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There is no one ideal textbook or source of problems of any particular type, and even if you did find one, if you are at all serious about earning a degree and having a career in physics or engineering, you'll be best off doing all the problems you can find in all the textbooks you can get your hands on.

Well, that might be absurd - there are too many books in the library written over the decades. But do keep at it, never resting just because you finished working some set of problems. Especially push yourself to do some problems that aren't the kind you prefer. Physics is not ever going to be easy.

Besides, no matter how applied / theoretical / mathematical a text is, they're all relevant to physics. Physics progresses only by the interplay of experiment, applied physics, theoretical physics, and abstract math.

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