Classical mechanics (MIT)

Subject classification: this is a physics resource.

Course equivalences

MIT 8.08

Mathematical background

The most important new concept for classical mechanics are the Euler-Lagrange equations.

Bulletin board

I have the Landau and Thornton texts listed on the MIT required texts page. Are there any online texts for students who don't currently have these? Thanks for this study guide! Ron 15:04, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Study hints

The basic study hint is to start with the Langrangian and just mechanically do with Euler-Langrange calculations until it is second nature. One thing that I found useful is to just skim the theory and the proofs, and focus on the mechanics of how to work out the problem. Roadrunner 15:29, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

The other problem is that Classical mechanics courses tend to take a historical approach and they leave out a lot of cool stuff like Study guide:Chaos theory. Something useful to look at is Dynamics, the Geometry of Behavior from http://www.aerialpress.com/, which is my model for what a physics textbook should look like. Roadrunner 15:42, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

What about the classical text by Goldstein? That might be useful too. --HappyCamper 17:12, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Resources

• MIT Course
• Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics - Just a note, this is a good text, but it does not have enough worked out problems.