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I'm happy to see The Variational Principles of Mechanics (by the great Lanczos) on that list. It really is deep, and I think it does a fantastic job of explain

by kjak 12y ago

I'm happy to see The Variational Principles of Mechanics (by the great Lanczos) on that list. It really is deep, and I think it does a fantastic job of explaining classical mechanics. I've read the vast majority of the book multiple times. Since we're on the topic of Sussman, has anyone here read through SICM? I've heard that the code is difficult to get to work, but does anyone have an opinion on the rest? I haven't had a chance to read it yet. Anyone read both Lanczos and SICM?

chm 12y ago
I bought Lanczos' book a month ago, I'm ~75 pages in (got other stuff to do). I will give SICM a try. I've just installed the 'ScmUtils Mechanics' package to accompany the book. How can the code be difficult to get to work if he ships the required package with the book?
tjl 12y ago
I referred to the Lanczos book quite often when I was working on my PhD. I've read the first part of SICM and skimmed the rest. Based on that, it looks like it does an excellent job in building up an understanding of how the math works. By the time I looked at SICM, I had implemented my own code to do something similar (coded in Maple). It looked like the progression of the code was well handled. On the whole, I think Lanczos is a better book, but SICM is fairly decent. I'm also partial to Meirovitch's Methods of Analytical Dynamics which I think does the best job of explaining the inclusion of non-conservative forces in the Principle of Least Action. This is needed for applied forces and torques like a motor. It also covers the inclusion of damping forces well. Like Lanczos, the Meirovitch book is available from Dover, so it's pretty inexpensive. The SICM code really only works for a specific scheme interpreter, so if you have that it should be fine.
- lrc 12y ago
  Clojure is underway: http://github.com/littlredcomputer/math http://github.com/littlredcomputer/math
  - tjl 12y ago
    That's interesting, but I get a 404 for that link.
    - jonnybgood 12y ago
      https://github.com/littleredcomputer/math https://github.com/littleredcomputer/math
bandrami 12y ago
VPM is in my read queue. His "Linear Differential Operators" was the best math book I read in years so I'm looking forward to it.
deleted 12y ago
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by kjak 12y ago

chm 12y ago

I bought Lanczos' book a month ago, I'm ~75 pages in (got other stuff to do). I will give SICM a try. I've just installed the 'ScmUtils Mechanics' package to accompany the book. How can the code be difficult to get to work if he ships the required package with the book?

tjl 12y ago

I referred to the Lanczos book quite often when I was working on my PhD. I've read the first part of SICM and skimmed the rest. Based on that, it looks like it does an excellent job in building up an understanding of how the math works. By the time I looked at SICM, I had implemented my own code to do something similar (coded in Maple). It looked like the progression of the code was well handled. On the whole, I think Lanczos is a better book, but SICM is fairly decent. I'm also partial to Meirovitch's Methods of Analytical Dynamics which I think does the best job of explaining the inclusion of non-conservative forces in the Principle of Least Action. This is needed for applied forces and torques like a motor. It also covers the inclusion of damping forces well. Like Lanczos, the Meirovitch book is available from Dover, so it's pretty inexpensive. The SICM code really only works for a specific scheme interpreter, so if you have that it should be fine.

lrc 12y ago
Clojure is underway: http://github.com/littlredcomputer/math http://github.com/littlredcomputer/math
- tjl 12y ago
  That's interesting, but I get a 404 for that link.
  - jonnybgood 12y ago
    https://github.com/littleredcomputer/math https://github.com/littleredcomputer/math

bandrami 12y ago

VPM is in my read queue. His "Linear Differential Operators" was the best math book I read in years so I'm looking forward to it.

deleted 12y ago

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