A Treatise on the Analytical Dynamics of Particles and Rigid Bodies

E. T. Whittaker (Author), Sir William McCrae (Foreword by)

9780521358835, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 15 December 1988

480 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 3 cm, 0.78 kg

'The best in the English language.' Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society

This classic book is a encylopaedic and comprehensive account of the classical theory of analytical dynamics. The treatment is rigorous yet readable, starting from first principles with kinematics before moving to equations of motion and specific and explicit methods for solving them, with chapters devoted to particle dyanmics, rigid bodies, vibration, and dissipative systems. Hamilton's principle is introduced and then applied to dynamical systems, including three-body systems and celestial mechanics. Very many examples and exercisies are supplied throughout.

Part I. Kinematical Preliminaries
Part II. The Equations of Motion
Part III. Principles Available for the Integration
Part IV. The Soluble Problems of Particle Dynamics
Part V. The Dynamical Specification of Bodies
Part VI. The Soluble Problems of Rigid Dynamics
Part VII. Theory of Vibrations
Part VIII. Non-Holonomic Systems, Dissipative Systems
Part IX. The Principles of Least Action and Least Curvature
Part X. Hamiltonian Systems and their Integral-Invariants
Part XI. The Transformation-Theory of Dynamics
Part XII. Properties of the Integrals of Dynamical Systems
Part XIII. The Reduction of the Problem of Three Bodies
Part XIV. The Theorems of Bruns and Poincare
Part XV. The General Theory of Orbits
Part XVI. Integration by Series
Index of authors quoted
Index of terms employed.

Subject Areas: Applied mathematics [PBW]