This substantially revised and expanded new edition of the bestselling textbook, addresses the difficulties that can arise with the mathematics that underpins the study of symmetry, and acknowledges that group theory can be a complex concept for students to grasp.

Written in a clear, concise manner, the author introduces a series of programmes that help students learn at their own pace and enable to them understand the subject fully. Readers are taken through a series of carefully constructed exercises, designed to simplify the mathematics and give them a full understanding of how this relates to the chemistry.

This second edition contains a new chapter on the projection operator method. This is used to calculate the form of the normal modes of vibration of a molecule and the normalised wave functions of hybrid orbitals or molecular orbitals.

The features of this book include:

• A concise, gentle introduction to symmetry and group theory
• Takes a programmed learning approach
• New material on projection operators, and the calcultaion of normal modes of vibration and normalised wave functions of orbitals

This book is suitable for all students of chemistry taking a first course in symmetry and group theory.

Die Symmetrie der Moleküle gehört zu den Grundpfeilern der modernen Chemie. Viele Studenten haben Schwierigkeiten mit der Mathematik, die den Symmetriebetrachtungen zugrunde liegt - der Gruppentheorie. Bei der Lösung dieser Probleme hilft der hier verfolgte Ansatz des "programmierten Lernens": Sorgfältig erarbeitete, geschickt kommentierte Übungen führen Schritt für Schritt von Symmetrieelement und Charaktertafel bis zur Berechnung von Molekülschwingungen. Besonders geeignet für das gezielte Selbststudium! (10/00)