Fluid dynamics, the behavior of liquids and gases, is a field of broad impact that encompasses aspects of physics, engineering, oceanography, and meteorology. Full understanding demands fluency in higher mathematics, the only language of fluid dynamics. This introductory text is geared toward advanced undergraduate and graduate students in applied mathematics, engineering, and the physical sciences. It assumes a knowledge of calculus and vector analysis.

Author Richard E. Meyer notes, "This core of knowledge concerns the relation between inviscid and viscous fluids, and the bulk of this book is devoted to a discussion of that relation." Dr. Meyer develops basic concepts from a semi-axiomatic foundation, observing that such treatment helps dispel the common impression that the entire subject is built on a quicksand of assorted intuitions. His topics include kinematics, momentum principle and ideal fluid, Newtonian fluid, fluids of small viscosity, some aspects of rotating fluids, and some effects of compressibility. Each chapter concludes with a set of problems.