3 ms·

As a college sophomore majoring in Physics, I'm curious: what level of student is this text accessible to?

• thatcherc 7y ago
  I actually took this class a sophomore in CS and it was part of reason I switched to physics. It's not an easy text - there's a lot you have to keep in your head all at once - but the approach to mechanics is the most elegant I've seen (personal opinion though). It was the first class I took where I really had to read through the book and my notes after class, but the understanding you gain about classic mechanics, math, and functional programming are second to none. Really formative experience I'd say - well worth the effort!
  • noobly 7y ago
    Was this book your first exposure to Classical Mechanics? Would you recommend it as such?
    • thatcherc 7y ago
      This book (and the class) were my first exposure to Lagrangian and Hamiltonian dynamics and it's served me very well. Background up to that point was high school mechanics and college freshman mechanics and E&M. I think the book alone would be a more challenging first introduction to Lagrangians and Hamiltonians, but it does give a very good "deep" understanding of the material, mostly because you can play around with functions, equations, and systems without having to grind through pages of algebra since the computer does it. Outside of a class, it might be best approached with a few friends working through it together or in conjunction with one of the more traditional mechanics texts. Definitely worth the read at some point!