Efforts have been made to present the symmetry elements and operations in non-mathematical format, as far as possible, in this book. We have tried to explain these ideas by giving diagrams and figures, and hope that these illustrations will be useful in understanding the material. The examples covered in this book are nothing but covering the topics like: atomic structure, molecular structure (specially molecular orbital theory, idea of hybridisation), dipole moments, optical activity, vibrational and Raman spectra, electronic spectra, selection rules, structure of transition metal complexes and their electronic spectra, normal mode coordinate analysis and reaction dynamics. This book has been divided into ten chapters, starting with three chapters on the development of basic ideas of symmetry and group theory. Special emphasis has been placed on the concepts here. The approach adopted here is to teach concepts through raising questions and then solving them. To understand these principles, problems have been discussed and solved after every concept, as well as, unsolved problems have also been given at the end of each chapter. The mathematical concepts used are very simple and the physical meaning of every mathematical concept used is explained so that the students understand the important role mathematics plays in the development of the subject.
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