Analytical Mechanics (Saunders Golden Sunburst Series) [Hardcover]

Grant R. Fowles (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 8, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0030223172 | ISBN-13: 978-0030223174 | Edition: 6th

Taking a clear, practical approach to learning, ANALYTICAL MECHANICS uses historical perspective to enhance understanding and insight. Examples are presented first, followed by discussion of fundamental concepts, helping students to grasp challenging concepts from more familiar, specific cases.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"One of the strengths of this text has always been its figures and presentation of the mathematical concepts. The figures are excellent and will help students to gain a feel for the ideas The major strength of this text has always been its thorough presentation of the mathematics. Many texts leave out so many steps in the examples and derivations that students, especially those seeing the applications of differential equations for the first time, find it hard to follow and become discouraged. Incorporating the presentation of new mathematical concepts into the text rather than as supplements helps students to recognize the usefulness of the math. If I were to describe this text I would consider it a good physical overview to dynamics with good supportive explanations of the mathematics involved." --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 450 pages
• Publisher: Brooks Cole; 6th edition (September 8, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0030223172
• ISBN-13: 978-0030223174
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #638,731 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty Good, December 17, 2003

By 

David Diez (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Analytical Mechanics (Saunders Golden Sunburst Series) (Hardcover)

This book contains 3rd year undergrad mechanics. Multivariable and differential calculus are definitely required. Some of the new math (more advanced calculus, such as tensors, variations, etc.) that is needed is covered in the book fairly well, but 2 years of calculus is absolutely necessary.

I thought the examples were pretty clear and most of the text helpful, minus the historical info (fluff). Most of the problems required abstract thinking from the text but didn't seem (and weren't) impossible, just difficult.

The topics covered in this book are the following: Vectors, Newtonian Mechanics, Oscillations (where it gets harder), Motion in 3-D, Noninertial Reference Systems, Gravitation, Dynamics of Particle Systems, Rigid Body Mechanics (2-D and 3-D), Lagrangian Mechanics, and Dynamics of Oscillating Systems.

Overall I would recommend this book. It would be a pretty good book for self-study, but a couple math suppliments on tensors and calculus of variations may be helpful (perhaps look at Dover Publications' books since they are cheap).

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a very good mechanics book., June 9, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Analytical Mechanics (Saunders Golden Sunburst Series) (Hardcover)

Having read the previous reviews of this book, I was surprised by the range of opinions and ratings. I personally think it is one of the best book on mechanics I have seen. In university (30 years ago) I used Marion, 2nd edition, and found it abstract and frustrating at times, with not enough examples. Over the years I have accumulated many more mechanics books to try and better understand the advanced concepts, none of which I found wholly satisfactory. What I like about this book is the wealth of worked examples (I am amazed by those that say there are not enough examples), which allow you to really understand the concepts, and the new topics like Chaos theory, which many mechanics books do not cover. Also, I like the MathCad examples, since I am a fanatical MathCad user. I agree that the problems are challenging, but that is what problems are supposed to be! A solution manual would be nice. After studying a book like this, you can finally approach a book like Goldstein!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Adequate Text that Leaves the Reader Wanting More, January 2, 2002

By 

Michael G. Tomatz (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Analytical Mechanics (Saunders Golden Sunburst Series) (Hardcover)

This textbook covers all the aspects of analytical mechanics at the Junior/Senior level for an undergraduate physics major. It does this adequately. The organization of topics in the book appears to be slightly pell mell. The reader would benefit from the treatment of Langrangian mechanics before tackling the tough problem of 3D rigid body mechanics (the spinning top problem is much more approachable using the Lagrangian). The examples are slightly helpful, but leaving me wanting more. The problems are challenging. A solution's guide would be helpful to help the student work through some of the more difficult problems. In general the descriptions are clear, but as I said there does not seem to be a strong organiztional focus, which leads the reader to ask the question where are you going with this and why. It would have been nice to see clear motivating factors to want to study each chapter and to educate the reader why the topic is useful to study in more depth than in a introductory physics class. I cannot recommend a better book treating this subject but I would do an in-depth search for a better book on the subject before buying this one.