Vector Mechanics for Engineers, Statics and Dynamics (Hardcover)

by Ferdinand P. Beer (Author), Jr., E. Russell Johnston (Author), Elliot R. Eisenberg (Author), William E. Clausen (Author), George H. Staab (Author), Ferdinand Beer (Author), Elliot Eisenberg (Author), William Clausen (Author), George Staab (Author) "Mechanics can be defined as that science which describes and predicts the conditions of rest or motion of bodies under the action of forces..." (more)
Key Phrases: distributed forces, coordinate nixes, new centroidal axes, Sample Prob, Solve Prob, Plane Motion of Rigid Bodies (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
For the past forty years Beer and Johnston have been the uncontested leaders in the teaching of undergraduate engineering mechanics. Over the years their textbooks have introduced significant theoretical and pedagogical innovations in statics, dynamics, and mechanics of materials education. At the same time, their careful presentation of content, unmatched levels of accuracy, and attention to detail have made their texts the standard for excellence. The new Seventh Edition of Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics and Dynamics continues this tradition. The seventh edition is complemented by a media and supplement package that is targeted to address core course needs for both the student and the instructor.

About the Author
RETIRED - SEND CORRESPONDENCE TO HOME ADDRESS!

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1312 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Science/Engineering/Math; 7 edition (July 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072931108
• ISBN-13: 978-0072931105
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #444,135 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #27 in	Books > Science > Mathematics > Applied > Vector Analysis
  #28 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Mathematics > Applied > Vector Analysis
  #60 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Physics > Dynamics

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A poor example of engineering mechanics textbook, June 22, 2004

By	Greg Freeman (Gainesville, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics and Dynamics (Hardcover)

I was forced into purchasing this group of books for my university engineering program as all of the homework problems required were straight from this book.

Additionally, the books were packaged with schaums problem sets that were particularly useless (schaums outlines are usually excellent, but their problem sets did not contain all of the detail and had nothing extra to offer over Beer and Johnston's textbook) and therefore a waste of my money.

With that said, the only redeeming value of this book is the sheer number of exercises and answers (numerical answers with no explanation, however).

The writing quality suffers what english majors call overuse of passive voice. Overuse of the words "is," "will," "are," etc. characterize this style. With the lack of acting verbs in sentences, the book effectively numbs the mind and puts the reader to sleep. This passive use of verbage also serves to take the emphasis off of the important parts of sentences.

Aside from stylistic issues with the english language, the book also suffers from a lack of vision. The authors did not provide a good methodology to approaching problems at all. They hint at it, by telling the student to draw pictures. However, in examples, the authors jump from one step to the next without much explanation of how a person would discover the techniques themselves. This makes the homework problems particularly difficult when a completely different approach than the one in the examples is required.

There are also derivation and explanation issues. For instance, in the handling of the precession of free bodies (this example sticks out in particular), the author provides a diagram and some equations. However, students cannot precede merely from what the author explained. The student, in order to approach the problems, must assume the validity of the vector diagrams and their relationships, along with equations, seperately. The diagrams and equations WERE NOT UNIFIED in the discussion. This gives the impression that the authors seperately wrote different parts of the book, and later simply pasted the pieces together without any greater plan.

I would not recommend these books as something colleges should use.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well-written but..., September 7, 2002

By	Vijay Krishna (Chennai, TN, India) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics and Dynamics (IBM Set) (Hardcover)

I cannot deny the fact that this is a well-written book. But the authors had a way of getting on my nerves for the gradation between the examples and the exercise problems was too steep that if you did not grasp the underlying concept in the first place, you never ever will understand it. Most of my friends felt that way too.

However that does not mean that the book is not good. At times you will be flabbergasted at how well the authors can push a difficult concept through. The section on 'Dynamics' was perhaps one of the best in contemporary entry-level texts on the subject.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Garbage, October 21, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics and Dynamics (IBM Set) (Hardcover)

This is the text used in my current undergrad Statics class. Like many of these texts, this book is written so only teachers or students who have already completed the course might understand the explanations and sample problems. If you have a teacher who does not explain the material in an understandable way, like I do, this book will be no help. There is no solutions manual to supplement the few examples given in the chapters.

I have had straight B's in 3 undergrad Phyisics courses, and 2 A's and 2 B's in 3 unergrad Calculus courses and Diff Eq. I am nearly lost with this book and looking for supplemental learning materials.