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  • © 2015

Elementary Mechanics Using Python

A Modern Course Combining Analytical and Numerical Techniques

  • Offers a novel approach combining computational and analytical methods

  • Contains many figures and plots

  • Each chapter comes with exercises and solutions

  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics (ULNP)

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Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
  2. Introduction

    • Anders Malthe-Sørenssen
    Pages 1-7
  3. Getting Started with Programming

    • Anders Malthe-Sørenssen
    Pages 9-29
  4. Units and Measurement

    • Anders Malthe-Sørenssen
    Pages 31-41
  5. Motion in One Dimension

    • Anders Malthe-Sørenssen
    Pages 43-81
  6. Forces in One Dimension

    • Anders Malthe-Sørenssen
    Pages 83-138
  7. Motion in Two and Three Dimensions

    • Anders Malthe-Sørenssen
    Pages 139-181
  8. Forces in Two and Three Dimensions

    • Anders Malthe-Sørenssen
    Pages 183-213
  9. Constrained Motion

    • Anders Malthe-Sørenssen
    Pages 215-228
  10. Forces and Constrained Motion

    • Anders Malthe-Sørenssen
    Pages 229-267
  11. Work

    • Anders Malthe-Sørenssen
    Pages 269-301
  12. Energy

    • Anders Malthe-Sørenssen
    Pages 303-350
  13. Momentum, Impulse, and Collisions

    • Anders Malthe-Sørenssen
    Pages 351-399
  14. Multiparticle Systems

    • Anders Malthe-Sørenssen
    Pages 401-436
  15. Rotational Motion

    • Anders Malthe-Sørenssen
    Pages 437-456
  16. Rotation of Rigid Bodies

    • Anders Malthe-Sørenssen
    Pages 457-488
  17. Dynamics of Rigid Bodies

    • Anders Malthe-Sørenssen
    Pages 489-553
  18. Back Matter

    Pages 555-590

About this book

This book – specifically developed as a novel textbook on elementary classical mechanics – shows how analytical and numerical methods can be seamlessly integrated to solve physics problems. This approach allows students to solve more advanced and applied problems at an earlier stage and equips them to deal with real-world examples well beyond the typical special cases treated in standard textbooks.

Another advantage of this approach is that students are brought closer to the way physics is actually discovered and applied, as they are introduced right from the start to a more exploratory way of understanding phenomena and of developing their physical concepts.

While not a requirement, it is advantageous for the reader to have some prior knowledge of scientific programming with a scripting-type language. This edition of the book uses Python, and a chapter devoted to the basics of scientific programming with Python is included. A parallel edition using Matlab instead of Python is also available.

Last but not least, each chapter is accompanied by an extensive set of course-tested exercises and solutions.

Keywords

  • Computational physics
  • Forces, momentum and motion
  • Introductory mechanics
  • Mechanics textbook Python
  • Newtonian mechanics textbook
  • Scripting-type languages for scientific programming
  • Teaching basic physical concepts
  • Work and energy

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Anders Malthe-Sørenssen

About the author

Professor Anders Malthe-Sørenssen is a professor of physics at the University of Oslo, where his research interests are focused on the physics of geological processes.  His current teaching activity focuses on revitalizing the teaching of undergraduate science courses by seamless integration of computational methods in order to give students an early contact with research and industrially relevant problems.  

Bibliographic Information

Buying options

eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (Canada)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (Canada)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (Canada)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions