  Heartbeat stars are eccentric binary stars in short period orbits whose light
curves are shaped by tidal distortion, reflection, and Doppler beaming. Some
heartbeat stars exhibit tidally excited oscillations and present new
opportunities for understanding the physics of tidal dissipation within stars.
We present detailed methods to compute the forced amplitudes, frequencies, and
phases of tidally excited oscillations in eccentric binary systems. Our methods
i) factor out the equilibrium tide for easier comparison with observations, ii)
account for rotation using the traditional approximation, iii) incorporate
non-adiabatic effects to reliably compute surface luminosity perturbations, iv)
allow for spin-orbit misalignment, and v) correctly sum over contributions from
many oscillation modes. We also discuss why tidally excited oscillations are
more visible in hot stars with surface temperatures $T \! \gtrsim \! 6500 \,
{\rm K}$, and we derive some basic probability theory that can be used to
compare models with data in a statistical manner. Application of this theory to
heartbeat systems can be used to determine whether observed tidally excited
oscillations can be explained by chance resonances with stellar oscillation
modes, or whether a resonance locking process is operating.
