Classical Mechanics with Calculus of Variations and Optimal Control: An Intuitive Introduction (Student Mathematical Library) - Softcover

Levi, Mark

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0821891383 ISBN 13: 9780821891384

Publisher: American Mathematical Society, 2014

Synopsis

This is an intuitively motivated presentation of many topics in classical mechanics and related areas of control theory and calculus of variations. All topics throughout the book are treated with zero tolerance for unrevealing definitions and for proofs which leave the reader in the dark.

Some areas of particular interest are: an extremely short derivation of the ellipticity of planetary orbits; a statement and an explanation of the “tennis racket paradox''; a heuristic explanation (and a rigorous treatment) of the gyroscopic effect; a revealing equivalence between the dynamics of a particle and statics of a spring; a short geometrical explanation of Pontryagin's Maximum Principle, and more.

In the last couple of chapters, aimed at more advanced readers, the Hamiltonian and the momentum are compared to forces in a certain static problem. This gives a palpable physical meaning to some seemingly abstract concepts and theorems. With minimal prerequisites consisting of basic calculus and basic undergraduate physics, this book is suitable for courses from an undergraduate to a beginning graduate level, and for a mixed audience of mathematics, physics and engineering students. Much of the enjoyment of the subject lies in solving almost 200 problems in this book.

This book is published in cooperation with Mathematics Advanced Study Semesters.

About this title

About the Author

Mark Levi, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

Edition details

• Publisher: American Mathematical Society
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0821891383
• ISBN 13: 9780821891384
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 299