In addition to being a rewarding branch of mathematics in its own right, the theory of functions of a complex variable underlies a large number of enormously powerful techniques which find their application not only in other branches of mathematics but also in the sciences and in engineering.
Chapters 1, 2, and 5 of this book provide concisely but honestly the classical aspects of the theory of functions of a complex variable; the rest of the book is devoted to a detailed account of various techniques and the ideas from which they evolve. Many of the illustrative examples are phrased in terms of the physical contexts in which they might arise; however, we have tried to be consistent in including a mathematical statement of each problem to be discussed.