An interactive rebuild of

Introduction to Quantum Mechanics

A. C. Phillips Β· Manchester Physics Series Β· John Wiley & Sons, 2003

Every equation broken down term by term, every figure rebuilt as an interactive diagram, every result reproducible in a few lines of NumPy β€” written for someone who has linear algebra, signal processing and code, but no physics background.

Start with the toolkit β†’ Jump to chapter 1 Glossary
111
calculations
re-run and byte-compared on every build
243
interactive figures
every diagram rebuilt, none scanned
332
quiz questions
with an explanation for every option
150
glossary terms
defined for an engineer, not a physicist

What this site does that a printed book cannot

One recipe, eleven chapters

Β§0.3 sets up a single numerical method β€” discretize space, build a tridiagonal Hamiltonian, take its eigenvalues. Every energy spectrum in the book then comes out of that same code, ending with the screened potential that gives an atom its shells.

Nothing is asserted

Every numeric claim is computed by a Python snippet printed beside it, and the whole set re-runs on each build with its output compared byte for byte. If a number here is wrong, the build fails.

The book is checked, not copied

Working through it turned up 24 printed errors across nine chapters β€” wrong coefficients, reversed limits, a mislabelled figure, a value out by 2.7 eV. Each is flagged where it occurs, checked against the page scan, and explained rather than quietly corrected.

Coverage

53 / 53 pages β€” complete

All eleven chapters, every section and every problem set, plus a toolkit that is not in the book.

Learning path

The book's own order, and it is worth following β€” each part leans on the one before it. The toolkit and chapters 2–4 are the load-bearing ones; most of what follows is those ideas applied to a new potential.

Foundations & Toolkit

Not in the book. The notation, the constants, and the one numerical recipe that produces every energy spectrum ahead.

Part I β€” Why Quantum Mechanics?

The experimental weirdness that forces the theory: photons, de Broglie waves, quantized atoms, and what measurement does.

Part II β€” The Theory

The machinery. A wave equation for matter, position and momentum as probability distributions, and how states evolve in time.

Part III β€” Solving the SchrΓΆdinger Equation

The theory put to work on the two potentials that matter most: square wells and barriers, and the harmonic oscillator.

Part IV β€” The Formal Structure

The formal structure underneath everything so far β€” observables as operators, compatibility, commutators, constants of motion.

Part V β€” Angular Momentum and Atoms

Angular momentum and spin, the hydrogen atom solved, identical particles, and why the periodic table looks the way it does.