Classical Mechanics 1st Edition by R. Douglas Gregory (PDF)

Description

Gregory’s Classical Mechanics is a major new textbook for undergraduates in mathematics and physics. It is a thorough, self-contained and highly readable account of a subject many students find difficult. The author’s clear and systematic style promotes a good understanding of the subject; each concept is motivated and illustrated by worked examples, while problem sets provide plenty of practice for understanding and technique. Computer assisted problems, some suitable for projects, are also included. The book is structured to make learning the subject easy; there is a natural progression from core topics to more advanced ones and hard topics are treated with particular care. A theme of the book is the importance of conservation principles. These appear first in vectorial mechanics where they are proved and applied to problem solving. They reappear in analytical mechanics, where they are shown to be related to symmetries of the Lagrangian, culminating in Noether’s theorem.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “The writing here is a picture of clarity and directness. The physical layout of the book is attractive. Diagrams and figures are well-drawn. Each page in the book is pleasing to look at…I wish it had been my textbook when I was a student.” William J. Satzer, MAA Reviews, MathDL”Gregory’s style is clear and concise: his writing is neither overly condensed nor verbose, and the diagrams are clear and illustrative. This textbook should be required reading for any student embarking on an undergraduate course in engineering or physical sciences. I look forward to reading future works by this author.” Contemporary Physics Book Description Gregory’s Classical Mechanics is a major new textbook for undergraduate students in mathematics and physics. About the Author Douglas Gregory is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Manchester. He is a researcher of international standing in the field of elasticity, and has held visiting positions at New York University, the University of British Columbia, and the University of Washington. He is highly regarded as a teacher of applied mathematics: this, his first book, is the product of many years ‘ teaching experience. Read more

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This sophomore-level book on classical particle mechanics assumes aknowledge of basic mechanics that one would acquire in a freshmanlevel introductory physics course as well as ordinary differentialequations and vector calculus. Beyond that, it’s largely self-contained, and follows the standard fair of Newtonian linear vectormechanics, oscillations, energy methods, curvilinear motion, andintroductory Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics. It also offersintroductory material on some non-conventional subjects such asnon-linear oscillations and phase space, perturbation theory,rotating reference frames, and tensor algebra, which may proveuseful in later course work.Gregory is a professor of applied mathematics, not physics, and itshows in his approach to mechanics. Usually, whether in developingthe theory or demonstrating problem solving techniques in examples,he offers a purely mathematical solution, with no reference to theactual physics of the phenomena. The end-of-chapter problemsrequire mathematical knowledge for their solution, but do notencourage physical thinking about the systems involved. Often, theproblems are entirely un-physical; for example, he might state that”given a force field described by F= 3x^3 + 2x +5, find the vectorpotential”, without describing what physical system might actuallyproduce such a field. In other instances, a physical system isdescribed, but it is a contrived one that would probably never beencountered in the lab or in industry. Such an approach does nottend to increase one’s physical intuition, which is an importantpart of learning physics.If you are looking for an introductory book to mathematicalmechanics, however, Gregory’s text is ok. It’s not rigorous -often mathematical hand waving or heuristic arguments are made inthe development of the theory, and sometimes he skips too manysteps, making it very difficult to figure out how he got from stepA to step B, but in most instances his explanations arecomprehendible. The difficulty level of the problems is generallyappropriate, ranging from plug-and-chug to challenging. Also, theproblems are generally fun, even if they do tend to be un-physical.Answers to all of the problems are given in the back of the book.Overall, I’d say that if mathematical rigor and elegance are whatyou are looking for or, on the other hand, you want to developphysical insight, you are better off looking elsewhere. If youwant a fairly entertaining, understandable, casual introduction tomathematical mechanics, Gregory’s book will meet your needs. Ialso would say that this book is pretty appropriate for self-instruction, especially if you can obtain a copy of the solutionsmanual (which is available from admittedly dubious sources on theinternet).

⭐Very well written and with a very appropriate selection of subjects, but is missing some issue about the theory of relativity. If it would be included in a second edition, it would be for me a ‘five star’.

⭐I am a physicist and I have been working as a Physics teacher in a high school for many years so I need to remember few topics and for sure this book looks the best point to start. Also I really appreciate that this ones has ANSWERS, otherwise how do you know if you are moving in the right direction?

⭐I really like how each section starts with a motivation.It lets the reader know WHY, which for me is very important when it comes to learning.I don’t have a physics background (instead its chemistry), so sometimes books like these are helpful for self study.

⭐The explanations are wonderfully clear and insightful. The examples are illuminating. He has answers to questions in the back of the book.The sections on analytical mechanics are particularly excellent.All in all, ideal for self study. I would buy any future book by this author sight unseen. This book sets a new bechmark for undergraduate physics text books.

⭐It is a good book to read and you can find alot of info from it.

⭐This is an excellent textbook.Very good examples and instructive problems. Also,an attractive book with beautiful diagrams.If you are a student or anyone interested in classical mechanics,take a good look at this book.I think you will like it.

⭐This is the best mechanics textbook I’ve found for actually learning the subject. The text is well set out and easy to read and there are LOTS of examples with full solutions. Once I’d studied these I found I could do most of the problems. Another good thing is that the book gives the answers to ALL the problems, not just a select few which can be very frustrating. I give this textbook a grade A (and so do the Mathematical Association of America whose review has just appeared on their web site […]).

⭐This is a welcome text in Classical Mechanics aimed at the undergraduate embarking on a first degree in Physics or Engineering. The author is very skilled in taking the student through a series of stages of increasing complexity without an overly rigorous approach to the math. He starts at the very beginning without supposing much prior knowledge of mechanics. It does however ramp up fairly rapidly and the student will be expected to be familiar with calculus. This is a full text on the subject in hand but does not cover a detailed explanation of Lagrangian and Hamiltonian forms, vectors, and tensors. The student would be advised to supplement this text with others that specialise in the more advanced topics. Nevertheless, it is easily followed with examples and exercises and solutions. I would have been very happy if such text had been available when I embarked on a physics degree. Fully recommended.

⭐This is a book on classical mechanics that goes direct to the point. It;s highly understandable and clear, however, if you have never studied mechanics and you learn well from this book only, I would be surprised! However, if you have solved exercises in mehcanics and physics in general and have read some mechanics, calculus and differential equations then reading this book is a pleasure since it’s strict and defines what has to be defined. With that I mean that some books just explain you what things are in terms of the physical interpretation and then write a formula. But sometimes you dont really understand why or for what purpose a definition is needed. But this book tells you directly what you are looking for in every chapter or field of mechanics and then strictly defines the concepts to finally write the formula, or derive it, thus there is no ambiguity. Also, you know why the definitions or theorems have to (is useful to) be defined in that way. This is extremely important in mehanics since you really need to know what a point mass, a frame of reference and so on is if you want to think about how to solve problems and also about the significance of the result.Also, and perhaps surprisingly for such a strict book in terms of theory (even if not very advanced mathematics are used), most of the exercises relevant to exams and real life basic problems are clearly solved and explained by the author. In sum, not for the beginner that struggles with elementary calculus, but still understandable enough for someone that has understood something at the level of “Thomas Calculus” which is an undergraduate book in applied maths or mathematical methods.Anotehr thing to think about is that this book is up to date. It gives clear and precise introductions to some hot topics like theory of small oscillations, non-linear oscillations and phase space, and, importantly, starting from teh very basics guides you to the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalism and Noether’s theorem. What else can you expect from an undergraduate level book! Magnificent. Finally, like with anything else, I wouldn’t learn from this book only and I would try to read others also like, for example, “Vector mechanics for engineers” or any other that you might find useful. The one I mention lacks up to date information and maybe notation but has plenty of other good things also.Well done to the author and the department of applied maths in Manchester.

⭐Perfect for first year uni maths. Much better than the course notes provided by the lecturer…

⭐Brand new as stated. Very good service, arrived promply and well within the timescale indicated. Would recommend this supplier to others.

⭐good text for self study. the explanation is clear. it has answers for you to check with your work.

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