For 30 years, this classic text has been the acknowledged standard in classical mechanics courses. Classical Mechanics enables students to make connections between classical and modern physics an indispensable part of a physicist s education. The authors have updated the topics, applications, and notations to reflect today s physics curriculum. They introduce students to the increasingly important role that nonlinearities play in contemporary applications of classical mechanics. New numerical exercises help students develop skills in the use of computer techniques to solve problems in physics. Mathematical techniques are presented in detail so that the text remains fully accessible to students who have not had an intermediate course in classical mechanics.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1: Survey of the Elementary Principles

CHAPTER 2: Variational Principles and Lagrange's Equations

CHAPTER 3: The Central Force Problem

CHAPTER 4: The Kinematics of Rigid Body Motion

CHAPTER 5: The Rigid Body Equations of Motion

CHAPTER 6: Oscillations

CHAPTER 7: The Classical Mechanics of the Special Theory of Relativity

CHAPTER 8: The Hamilton Equations of Motion

CHAPTER 9: Canonical Transformations

CHAPTER 10: Hamilton- Jacobi Theory and Action-Angle Variables

CHAPTER 11: Classical Chaos

CHAPTER 12: Canonical Perturbation Theory

CHAPTER 13: Introduction to the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Formulations for Continuous Systems and Fields

APPENDIX A: Euler Angles in Alternate Conventions and Cayley- Klein Parameters

APPENDIX B: Groups and Algebras

APPENDIX C: Solutions to Select Exercises