Of the five editions of this text, this is the third edition that I have prepared. In doing so, I have attempted to adhere to the late Jerry Marion's original purpose of producing a modern and reasonably complete account of the classical mechanics of particles, systems of particles, and rigid bodies for physics studrnts at the advanced undergraduate level. The purpose of the book continues to be threefold:
1 To present a modern treatment of classical mechanical systems in such a way that the transition to the quantum theory of physics can be made with the least possible difficulty
2 To acquaint the student with new mathematical techniques wherever possible, and to give him/her sufficient practice in solving problens so that the student may become reasonably proficient in their use.
3 To impart to the student, at the crucial period tn the student's career between"introductory" and "advanced" physics,some degreeof sophistication in handling both the formalism of the theory and the operational technique of problem solving
- Matrices, vectors,and Vector Calculus
- Newtonian Mechanics-Single Particle
- Oscillations
- Nonlinear Oscillations and Chaos
- Gravitation
- Some Methods in the Calculus of Variations
- Hamilton's Principle-Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Dynamics
- Central-Force Motion
- Dynamics of a System of Particles