Classical Dynamics
A Contemporary Approach

A comprehensive graduate-level textbook on classical dynamics with many worked examples and over 200 homework exercises, first published in 1998.

Jorge V. José (Author), Eugene J. Saletan (Author)

9780521636360, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 13 August 1998

698 pages, 218 b/w illus. 226 exercises
25.4 x 17.8 x 3.5 cm, 1.27 kg

'… it is well written, with a thorough set of references, and would serve as an excellent resource for students and faculty alike who wish to learn many of the most important aspects of the mathematical physics behind the renaissance of classical mechanics.' R. W. Robinett, American Journal of Physics

Advances in the study of dynamical systems have revolutionized the way that classical mechanics is taught and understood. Classical Dynamics, first published in 1998, is a comprehensive textbook that provides a complete description of this fundamental branch of physics. The authors cover all the material that one would expect to find in a standard graduate course: Lagrangian and Hamiltonian dynamics, canonical transformations, the Hamilton-Jacobi equation, perturbation methods, and rigid bodies. They also deal with more advanced topics such as the relativistic Kepler problem, Liouville and Darboux theorems, and inverse and chaotic scattering. A key feature of the book is the early introduction of geometric (differential manifold) ideas, as well as detailed treatment of topics in nonlinear dynamics (such as the KAM theorem) and continuum dynamics (including solitons). The book contains many worked examples and over 200 homework exercises. It will be an ideal textbook for graduate students of physics, applied mathematics, theoretical chemistry, and engineering, as well as a useful reference for researchers in these fields. A solutions manual is available exclusively for instructors.

1. Fundamentals of mechanics
2. Lagrangian formulation of mechanics
3. Topics in Lagrangian dynamics
4. Scattering and linear oscillations
5. Hamiltonian formulation of mechanics
6. Topics in Hamiltonian dynamics
7. Nonlinear dynamics
8. Virigid bodies
9. Continuum dynamics.

Subject Areas: Fluid mechanics [PHDF], Classical mechanics [PHD]