This book – specifically developed as a novel textbook on elementary classical mechanics – shows how analytical and numerical methods can be seamlessly integrated to solve physics problems. This approach allows students to solve more advanced and applied problems at an earlier stage and equips them to deal with real-world examples well beyond the typical special cases treated in standard textbooks. Another advantage of this approach is that students are brought closer to the way physics is actually discovered and applied, as they are introduced right from the start to a more exploratory way of understanding phenomena and of developing their physical concepts. While not a requirement, it is advantageous for the reader to have some prior knowledge of scientific programming with a scripting-type language. This edition of the book uses Matlab, and a chapter devoted to the basics of scientific programming with Matlab is included. A parallel edition using Python instead of Matlab is also available. Last but not least, each chapter is accompanied by an extensive set of course-tested exercises and solutions.

Build on elementary mechanics of materials texts with this treatment of the analysis of stresses and strains in elastic bodies.

In addition to being among the twentieth century’s major scientific figures, Sir James Jeans (1877–1946) was also one of the greatest modern science expositors. His classic introduction to mechanics endures as a clear and concise presentation of first principles. Although brief, it encompasses a remarkably wide selection of topics. Its subjects include rest and motion, force and the laws of motion, forces acting on a single particle, statics of systems of particles, statics of rigid bodies, center of gravity, work, motion of a particle under constant forces, motion of systems of particles, motion of a particle under a variable force, motion of rigid bodies, and generalized coordinates. Within each chapter, the author carefully explains the most elementary concepts (such as velocity, acceleration, Newton’s laws, friction, moments, and kinetic energy), and he illustrates them with examples. Ideal for beginning physics students or for more advanced readers in need of refreshment, the text emphasizes the fundamental physical principles rather than mathematics or applications. So clearly written that it can be read and understood outside the classroom, it features hundreds of fully worked illustrative examples and test exercises.