Posted on Tuesday, November 28, 2017
Theoretical Physics 1: Classical Mechanics by Wolfgang Nolting
Theoretical Physics 1 starts with providing the student with the necessary mathematical apparatus that will be needed to understand classical mechanics. It starts from differential calculus and integration and continues with operations with vectors.
After a crash-course of calculus and algebra the book continues with mechanics starting from the usual – coordinate systems, uniform motion, circular motion, forces etc. It is interesting to note, that in this book there are lots of examples of connections between classical mechanics and other areas of physics, which bring out similarities between the different laws of physics. As an example – different central forces as exemplified by both Gravitational force and Coulomb force but also the force affecting an isotropic harmonic oscillator.
One of the features I liked best about this book is that the same concepts come up in several places and they’re explained more thoroughly in one place, but they’re mentioned briefly in another so that when you get to the longer discussion of the topic you already have a clue about what the main point is. That is one of the features which gives some more incentive to keep on working through the theory, test your understanding on the exercises and self-examination questions. In the end the reader is quite likely to feel that they’ve learnt something. Because of its clear presentation of the topics, different levels of exercises with solutions provided in the back of the book, it's an ideal book for independent study.
Labels: book review, classical mechanics