Is it acceptable to reference equations in a thesis instead of writing them out?
The suggestion to put them in an appendix is a good one. That allows you to change your mind later (after you speak with your advisor). In fact you can write the main text along the lines of "the underlying equations are discussed HERE," and near the end of your writing you change HERE to reference either your appendix, or the book. It also allows you to postpone putting time into this part of your thesis, until your advisor tells you whether he/she wants it. 

One concern I have is consistent notation. If you just reference to another source, are you relying on readers to figure out the needed notation changes? If so, it's better that you include the equations, properly translated.