Hacyan S. A Brief Introduction to Classical Mechanics with Illustrative Problems

Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Company, 2023. - 181 p. - ISBN 981127472X.This textbook is based on my lecture notes for a course on Classical Mechanics that I have offered for several years to graduate students in Physics at the Faculty of Science of the Autonomous National University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, UNAM). The course is aimed at students with a basic knowledge of calculus, and is designed to be covered during one or two full semesters, depending on its intensity. Since there are many excellent textbooks on Classical Mechanics at various levels, the reader may wonder if another text could be of any use. This textbook is restricted to the most basic elements of the subject, and the details of the calculations are presented, a step-by-step derivation of the fundamental formulas. The purpose is to give an overview of the subject with various illustrative examples and to show how to apply the general results to relevant problems in Classical Mechanics. My own experience (which may be old fashioned but efficient !) is that the best way for a student to learn the techniques of calculation and grasp the basic concepts of the matter under study is by watching his/her teacher developing such step-by-step derivations “by hand” on the blackboard (or any equivalent device) and by carefully following the deductions of each step, being even watchful of possible slips by the teacher and warning him/her immediately. It is contrary to all pedagogical methods to simply show formulas on a screen (in PowerPoint, for instance) with only a brief comment on their meaning. It is for this reason that there are no exercises in this textbook, since it is precisely about acquiring the skill to solve exercises. Accordingly, the reader is strongly recommended to follow each deduction in the book, to carefully check all the formulas, and finally measure his/her skills with the many exercises that can be found in standard classical textbooks. The reader may also note that some topics are treated in full detail, while others are only sketched; the purpose is to familiarize students with the handling of the most basic topics. Thus, for instance, I have tried to work out in detail some selected problems and give a general idea of the topics treated in the last chapters. As for the figures, I have chosen to present most of them as I usually draw on the blackboard in front of my students.True PDF