Status Updates From Classical Dynamics of Parti...

lagrangian is kinda eating ngl

send help

if I read it, it should count.

silly free particles and whatnot

Finished Chapter 12; maybe it's because I skimmed it too fast, but I feel that the exposition is not exactly clear (though the chapter -does- have a lot of technical details).

Jumped to Chapter 12 for dynamics of coupled systems. The next chapter on Fourier series and applications to continuous system will be the last chapter for this book (also the last topic for the course I am TA-ing for).

Finished Chapter 7 on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian. Though it seems like they relegated some complicated issues to Goldstein's book, the chapter discusses a lot of concepts with large number of examples. They also attempt to clarify how this is conceptually distinct but equivalent to standard Newtonian dynamics, which I think is great.

Finished Chapter 6 on calculus of variation. I am happy with the writing because it keeps the discussion sufficiently precise (not simply using "delta" to denote variation without clear calculus meaning).

Finished Chapter 5 (Gravitation); it contains standard content and well-written. What I like the most is the section on ocean tides; it spells out some of the basic complicating factors involved in the calculation, including the fact (not obvious to me) that the Sun's tidal effect is nearly half as strong as the Moon.

Very quick skim through Chapter 3 (oscillations) and 4 (Chaos). I would say they are also well-written. Chapter 4 is certainly less comprehensive than e.g. Strogatz' book, but it covers enough to give a flavor (e.g. it included logistic maps, Lyapunov exponents, limit cycles, and van der Pol oscillator).

First two chapters on vector calculus and Newtonian mechanics are clearly written, with good amount of examples. I like the fact that at this level the authors already emphasized some subtle philosophical issues exist (e.g. that "law" and "definition" are different things), and that Newtonian mechanics have both fundamental and practical limitations.

Quick reading for TA work; main focus will start from Chapter 6.

Reading the remainder of this pos for Classical Mechanics II 😭😭😭