A Student's Guide to Analytical Mechanics
A Student's Guide to Analytical Mechanics
Analytical mechanics is a set of mathematical tools used to describe a wide range of physical systems, both in classical mechanics and beyond. It offers a powerful and elegant alternative to Newtonian mechanics; however it can be challenging to learn due to its high degree of mathematical complexity. Designed to offer a more intuitive guide to this abstract topic, this guide explains the mathematical theory underlying analytical mechanics; helping students to formulate, solve and interpret complex problems using these analytical tools. Each chapter begins with an example of a physical system to illustrate the theoretical steps to be developed in that chapter, and ends with a set of exercises to further develop students' understanding. The book presents the fundamentals of the subject in depth before extending the theory to more elaborate systems, and includes a further reading section to ensure that this is an accessible companion to all standard textbooks.
- Includes frequent examples throughout, placing abstract mathematical concepts in a more intuitive context
- Presents exercises at the end of each chapter of varying difficulty to test understanding
- Online solutions for exercises are available to allow students to check their answers
Reviews & endorsements
'Bohn has written an excellent supplement for understanding analytical mechanics … A further reading section at the back provides useful directions for more study. Overall this will serve as an excellent supplement to a regular mechanics textbook.' S. Tripathi, Choice
Product details
October 2018Paperback
9781316509074
214 pages
227 × 152 × 11 mm
0.37kg
50 b/w illus.
Available
Table of Contents
- Preface
- Part I. Overview:
- 1. Why analytical mechanics?
- 2. Ways of looking at a pendulum
- Part II. Equations of Motion:
- 3. Constraints and d'Alembert's principle
- 4. Lagrangian mechanics
- 5. Samples from Lagrangian mechanics
- 6. Hamiltonian mechanics
- Part III. Methods of Solution:
- 7. Hamilton–Jacobi theory
- 8. Action-Angle variables
- 9. More applications of analytical mechanics
- Further reading
- Index.
