References & notes

Scope

These notes follow the supplied BSc third-year Classical Mechanics syllabus. All four units are included. Unless stated otherwise, particles have constant masses and motion is described in an inertial frame. The independence of constraints and the conditions under which reactions are ideal are specified where they enter the argument.

References

The following lecture collections cover related analytical mechanics. Their broader syllabi do not define the required material for this course.

• MIT OpenCourseWare, Dynamics 2.032: generalized coordinates, constraints, virtual displacement, virtual work, and D’Alembert’s principle.

• MIT OpenCourseWare, Classical Mechanics III 8.09: further analytical mechanics.

• Santos, Soares, and Tort, The determination of the apsidal angles and Bertrand’s theorem: a research treatment of the full theorem, beyond the local argument used in Chapter 19.

The derivations and worked problems are developed in the notes themselves; these references are not prerequisites for following them.

Typography and diagrams

The page design uses Latin Modern typography, restrained headings, and diagrams within the text. The mechanics text, problems, and figures were prepared for this course. Mathematics is typeset with KaTeX, with MathML included for accessibility.

KaTeX uses the MIT license; Latin Modern uses the GUST Font License. See the asset notices.

Using the reader

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