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.

Developed from a classic Notre Dame undergraduate course on the study of the motion of bodies, this volume stresses the history of science as well as the relevant physics and mathematics. Starting with ancient Greek celestial mechanics, topics include the Keplerian Revolution, displacement and kinematics, the special theory of relativity, and much more. 2013 edition.

Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems presents a modern and reasonably complete account of the classical mechanics of particles, systems of particles, and rigid bodies for physics students at the advanced undergraduate level. The book aims to present a modern treatment of classical mechanical systems in such a way that the transition to the quantum theory of physics can be made with the least possible difficulty; to acquaint the student with new mathematical techniques and provide sufficient practice in solving problems; and to impart to the student some degree of sophistication in handling both the formalism of the theory and the operational technique of problem solving. Vector methods are developed in the first two chapters and are used throughout the book. Other chapters cover the fundamentals of Newtonian mechanics, the special theory of relativity, gravitational attraction and potentials, oscillatory motion, Lagrangian and Hamiltonian dynamics, central-force motion, two-particle collisions, and the wave equation.