Authors:
- A new edition of a classic text, extensively revised and updated in order to simplify the presentation and offer a more modern outlook, showing how ideas from classical mechanics link with contemporary research.
- Aims to give readers a confident grasp of the material by confronting, rather than evading, common notational and pedagogical difficulties encountered on the journey from Newton to Lagrange and Hamilton.
Part of the book series: Springer Undergraduate Mathematics Series (SUMS)
Buy it now
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.
Table of contents (9 chapters)
-
Front Matter
-
Back Matter
About this book
First published in 1987, this text offers concise but clear explanations and derivations to give readers a confident grasp of the chain of argument that leads from Newton’s laws through Lagrange’s equations and Hamilton’s principle, to Hamilton’s equations and canonical transformations.
This new edition has been extensively revised and updated to include:
- A chapter on symplectic geometry and the geometric interpretation of some of the coordinate calculations.
- A more systematic treatment of the conections with the phase-plane analysis of ODEs; and an improved treatment of Euler angles.
- A greater emphasis on the links to special relativity and quantum theory showing how ideas from this classical subject link into contemporary areas of mathematics and theoretical physics.
A wealth of examples show the subject in action and a range of exercises – with solutions – are provided to help test understanding.
Reviews
From the reviews of the second edition:
“It is designed to teach analytical mechanics to second and third year undergraduates in the UK, and probably to third or fourth year undergraduates in the US. … This book offers a very attractive traditional introduction to the subject. … the author is well tuned to the difficulties even strong students encounter. … discusses the relevance of classical mechanics in modern physics, especially to relativity and quantum mechanics. This is a fine textbook. It would be a pleasure to teach or to learn from it.” (William J. Satzer, The Mathematical Association of America, March, 2010)Authors and Affiliations
-
Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
Nicholas Woodhouse
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Introduction to Analytical Dynamics
Authors: Nicholas Woodhouse
Series Title: Springer Undergraduate Mathematics Series
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-816-2
Publisher: Springer London
eBook Packages: Mathematics and Statistics, Mathematics and Statistics (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag London 2009
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-84882-815-5Published: 04 February 2010
eBook ISBN: 978-1-84882-816-2Published: 17 December 2009
Series ISSN: 1615-2085
Series E-ISSN: 2197-4144
Edition Number: 2
Number of Pages: XIII, 240
Number of Illustrations: 42 b/w illustrations
Additional Information: Originally published by Oxford University Press
Topics: Theoretical, Mathematical and Computational Physics, Classical and Continuum Physics, Classical Mechanics, Applications of Mathematics, Theoretical and Applied Mechanics