Mechanics books help!

I have ordered the book, Elements of Statics and Dynamics by SL Loney. Is it a good book? What is the standard of the problems in it?

Please do help, Thanks!

#Mechanics #Books

Easy Math Editor

This discussion board is a place to discuss our Daily Challenges and the math and science related to those challenges. Explanations are more than just a solution — they should explain the steps and thinking strategies that you used to obtain the solution. Comments should further the discussion of math and science.

When posting on Brilliant:

Use the emojis to react to an explanation, whether you're congratulating a job well done , or just really confused .
Ask specific questions about the challenge or the steps in somebody's explanation. Well-posed questions can add a lot to the discussion, but posting "I don't understand!" doesn't help anyone.
Try to contribute something new to the discussion, whether it is an extension, generalization or other idea related to the challenge.
Stay on topic — we're all here to learn more about math and science, not to hear about your favorite get-rich-quick scheme or current world events.

Markdown	Appears as
`italics` or `_italics_`	italics
`bold` or `__bold__`	bold
- bulleted - list	bulleted list
1. numbered 2. list	numbered list
Note: you must add a full line of space before and after lists for them to show up correctly
paragraph 1 paragraph 2	paragraph 1 paragraph 2
`[example link](https://brilliant.org)`	example link
`> This is a quote`	This is a quote
# I indented these lines # 4 spaces, and now they show # up as a code block. print "hello world"	# I indented these lines # 4 spaces, and now they show # up as a code block. print "hello world"

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `$` ... `$` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$

Comments

Hey Swapnil,

I have never actually seen a copy of that book in real life, and I haven't heard many stories about it. I would say that being so old, you are likely to encounter antiquated ways of doing things, and notation that is not in line with modern conventions. I have a few books that are quite old (Schrodinger's thermodynamics book, Dirac's "Principles of Quantum Mechanics") but mostly to see what the masters thought about their subject, not to learn for the first time. But I really don't know anything about it. Maybe it's a great book, I unfortunately have no idea.

Josh Silverman Staff - 6 years ago

Thank you for your reply! Well, here is the link to the book

Josh Silverman

Swapnil Das - 6 years ago

Skimming through it, it looks like a good book, but everything is done in the language of geometry where you have line $\overline{AB}$ and chord this, and blah blah blah, which I would find annoying if I were using it. If you want some recommendations or help obtaining them, let me know.

Josh Silverman Staff - 6 years ago

@Josh Silverman – May I have some reccomendations of books having very hard problems at the elementary level?

Swapnil Das - 6 years ago

@Swapnil Das – I forget, do you know calculus/are you okay with books that get up to calculus?

Josh Silverman Staff - 6 years ago

@Josh Silverman – No, Can U $Please$ suggest me how to learn Calculus?

Swapnil Das - 6 years ago

@Swapnil Das – I think this book and its successor are good even if they look silly How to Ace Calculus

This Martin Gardner book is also good Calculus Made Easy.

Josh Silverman Staff - 6 years ago

@Josh Silverman – Thank You Sir! I will try to complete the course in 10 days or so!

Swapnil Das - 6 years ago

@Swapnil Das – Wow, let me know how that goes!

Josh Silverman Staff - 6 years ago

@Josh Silverman – @Josh Silverman sir, please can you recommend a book for solving PDEs using methods like fourier analsys and seperation of varriables, also when we use seperation of varriables to find the solution as an infinite sum (say a fourier sine series), how can we find the closed form, and in what situations can we find it? or is there no choice but to approx with the first few terms

Mvs Saketh - 6 years ago

@Mvs Saketh – Hey @Mvs Saketh , maybe someone with a pure math background like @Calvin Lin will have a different suggestion, but I first learned PDEs from Boyce and diPrima, which is a pretty common textbook in the U.S. After I took that course, I was recommended the Apostol books on calculus, which I can't recommend enough. Volume 2 handles differential equations.

I think finding closed forms for series is rolling the dice. Sometimes you'll be able to go all the way, and sometimes you'll have to truncate the series and estimate how wrong you'll be due to your approximation. For instance, in lattice systems, Fourier transforms are a trusted tool, though they often don't lead to exact solutions. I don't think there is a useful rule I could suggest for when you'll have to approximate or not. For Fourier series I like this set of notes though I think you continue to get more comfortable with transforms and tricks as you read different viewpoints and see them in action. If you enjoy series and transforms, statistical mechanics and condensed matter are full of them, as are stochastic processes and field theories (string, quantum, etc).

Josh Silverman Staff - 6 years ago

@Josh Silverman – Sir, Can you suggest me some "PDFable" books for pure math?

@Josh Silverman

Swapnil Das - 6 years ago

@Swapnil Das – I forgot to give this link to you, Kleppner and Kolenkow the other day. I consider this to be the absolute best starting book for mechanics. The problems and examples in the book are of a quality not matched in any other mechanics book I can think of. You'll definitely find inspiration in working through this book, even though it is just the beginning.

Josh Silverman Staff - 6 years ago

@Josh Silverman – Thank You sir for giving your precious time to a foolish like me!

Swapnil Das - 6 years ago

@Swapnil Das – Can you be a little more specific (about what kind of pure math you're interested in)?

Josh Silverman Staff - 6 years ago

@Josh Silverman – You spent much of your precious time suggesting books and courses to me, a foolish guy, so, Thanks!

Swapnil Das - 6 years ago

@Josh Silverman – Everything on Brilliant! Many complicated things in general!

Swapnil Das - 6 years ago

@Swapnil Das – Since it seems you are driven by your interest in physics, I would suggest you take the time to learn calculus well. You're very young and so, are already way ahead of a lot of people who hope to master some part of physics. I'd think it best to use your head start to your advantage and get comfortable with calculus, just like it's a new language you're learning. Calculus also leads you into beautiful areas of pure math like real analysis, complex analysis, topology, and more.

I was never motivated to move beyond my effortless abilities in math until I read the book Prime Obsession in high school, and was very frustrated I couldn't really understand some of the math tricks he talks about. Then I started skipping ahead as quickly as I could, and learned calculus.

On the other hand, people criticize the push for calculus at a young age, because there are a lot of other topics in math that are arguably better for developing problem solving skills. I agree with that, but... if you're excited about physics, I think calculus is a language you can't get around being able to speak. There is only so far you can go without it, and that isn't very far (relatively) in the grand scheme of physics.

So yeah, tl;dr if you are able to, I would learn calculus. If not, I would learn what you need to so that you can start calculus.

Josh Silverman Staff - 6 years ago

@Josh Silverman – Like Olympiad type Mathematics!

Swapnil Das - 6 years ago

@Josh Silverman – For Sure!

Swapnil Das - 6 years ago

@Josh Silverman @Steven Zheng

Swapnil Das - 6 years ago

I don't know about the book you bought. Sorry.

Steven Zheng - 6 years ago

No problem, thanks for the reply!

Swapnil Das - 6 years ago

there is some error, i cant see the name of the book you wrote, can you comment the name of book

Mvs Saketh - 6 years ago

Elements of Statics and Dynamics by SL Loney.

Swapnil Das - 6 years ago

oh, some people say its a good book, but i never really liked S.L . Looney books, you may like it however

I mean, i dont like books that are so clumsy, and dull,

Mvs Saketh - 6 years ago

@Mvs Saketh – How are its problems?

Swapnil Das - 6 years ago

@Swapnil Das – i do not know, but if u want a book with good problems and at the same time nice theory, i would suggest david morin classical mechanics, i have never seen someone teach better

Mvs Saketh - 6 years ago

@Mvs Saketh – Is it this book?

Swapnil Das - 6 years ago

@Swapnil Das – yes

Mvs Saketh - 6 years ago

@Mvs Saketh – Thank You so much!

Swapnil Das - 6 years ago

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `\(` ... `\)` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$