The book guides the reader from the foundations of statisti-
cal thermodynamics including the theory of intermolecular
forces to modern computer-aided applications in chemical en-
gineering and physical chemistry. The approach is new. The
foundations of quantum and statistical mechanics are presen-
ted in a simple way and their applications to the prediction
of fluid phase behavior of real systems are demonstrated. A
particular effort is made to introduce the reader to expli-
cit formulations of intermolecular interaction models and to
show how these models influence the properties of fluid sy-
stems. The established methods of statistical mechanics -
computer simulation, perturbation theory, and numerical in-
tegration - are discussed in a style appropriate for newcom-
ers and are extensively applied. Numerous worked examples
illustrate how practical calculations should be carried out.