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Lagrangian Mechanics For The Non-Physicist
Anyone who truly wants to understand general relativity, quantum field theory or any other area of modern physics first needs to master Lagrangian mechanics.
The issue with most resources teaching Lagrangian mechanics is that they don't truly teach you the why behind it. But what if it didn't have to be that way? What if you could truly learn Lagrangian mechanics the right way?
The truth is that trying to understand physics at a deep level without understanding Lagrangian mechanics is like driving a car without a steering wheel – you’ll eventually run into a wall and not be able to move forward anymore.
The issue is that Lagrangian mechanics is often taught in a way that does not truly explain why it's needed and instead leaves you wondering “who cares about this?”
The true reason why Lagrangian mechanics is so incredibly powerful is that it gives you a general framework for describing literally any area of modern physics.
This is the reason why Lagrangian mechanics exists, but almost no one will teach you it this way... even though they should.
Whether you want to
Electrodynamics
Special and general relativity
Quantum field theory
String theory
You absolutely need to have a deep understanding of Lagrangian mechanics to even get started on any of these topics.
However, getting started and specifically knowing where to start is often the most difficult part. It would be nice to have a dedicated resource that introduces Lagrangian mechanics completely from scratch and gives you everything in one place.
Well, that's exactly what this book will give you.
You'll learn Lagrangian mechanics in a completely unique way you've likely never seen before - as both a fundamental framework for advanced modern physics, but also as an incredibly powerful problem solving tool.
Lagrangian Mechanics For The Non-Physicist is a complete resource specifically designed to teach you everything you'd possibly need to know about Lagrangian mechanics and the foundations of modern physics - the fundamentals, prerequisites, theory, math and practical applications. It's all here.Some of the interesting you'll be able to learn from this book
The intuition and proper motivation for why Lagrangian mechanics works and how it's useful in the first place as well as why the principle of stationary action makes senseCalculus of variations - the area of math Lagrangian mechanics uses - from the ground up, starting from the very basic ideas of single-variable calculusThe framework of Lagrangian mechanics, how to set up and solve any Lagrangian mechanics problem in a consistent step-by-step fashionA deeper dive into topics like generalized coordinates, generalized momenta, Lagrange multipliers and solving problems with constraintsAdvanced topics not covered in most other books - the most notable ones including friction and non-conservative forces in Lagrangian mechanics, solving statics problems with the principle of virtual work as well as a bottom-up approach to d'Alembert's principleThe relation between symmetries and conservation laws, described by Noether's theorem, as well as a precise description of what we even mean by symmetries in physicsSome advanced applications to modern physics, such as relativistic
The issue with most resources teaching Lagrangian mechanics is that they don't truly teach you the why behind it. But what if it didn't have to be that way? What if you could truly learn Lagrangian mechanics the right way?
The truth is that trying to understand physics at a deep level without understanding Lagrangian mechanics is like driving a car without a steering wheel – you’ll eventually run into a wall and not be able to move forward anymore.
The issue is that Lagrangian mechanics is often taught in a way that does not truly explain why it's needed and instead leaves you wondering “who cares about this?”
The true reason why Lagrangian mechanics is so incredibly powerful is that it gives you a general framework for describing literally any area of modern physics.
This is the reason why Lagrangian mechanics exists, but almost no one will teach you it this way... even though they should.
Whether you want to
Electrodynamics
Special and general relativity
Quantum field theory
String theory
You absolutely need to have a deep understanding of Lagrangian mechanics to even get started on any of these topics.
However, getting started and specifically knowing where to start is often the most difficult part. It would be nice to have a dedicated resource that introduces Lagrangian mechanics completely from scratch and gives you everything in one place.
Well, that's exactly what this book will give you.
You'll learn Lagrangian mechanics in a completely unique way you've likely never seen before - as both a fundamental framework for advanced modern physics, but also as an incredibly powerful problem solving tool.
Lagrangian Mechanics For The Non-Physicist is a complete resource specifically designed to teach you everything you'd possibly need to know about Lagrangian mechanics and the foundations of modern physics - the fundamentals, prerequisites, theory, math and practical applications. It's all here.Some of the interesting you'll be able to learn from this book
The intuition and proper motivation for why Lagrangian mechanics works and how it's useful in the first place as well as why the principle of stationary action makes senseCalculus of variations - the area of math Lagrangian mechanics uses - from the ground up, starting from the very basic ideas of single-variable calculusThe framework of Lagrangian mechanics, how to set up and solve any Lagrangian mechanics problem in a consistent step-by-step fashionA deeper dive into topics like generalized coordinates, generalized momenta, Lagrange multipliers and solving problems with constraintsAdvanced topics not covered in most other books - the most notable ones including friction and non-conservative forces in Lagrangian mechanics, solving statics problems with the principle of virtual work as well as a bottom-up approach to d'Alembert's principleThe relation between symmetries and conservation laws, described by Noether's theorem, as well as a precise description of what we even mean by symmetries in physicsSome advanced applications to modern physics, such as relativistic
- GenresPhysics
389 pages, Paperback
Published November 11, 2023
4 people are currently reading
33 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 5, 2024
(This is the same review I just posted to Amazon, FWIW.)
Theoretical physicist here - this book is a great journey through the world of Lagrangian Mechanics. The themes are good, the examples are interesting, and most importantly, it's all basically correct. It lacks some rigor, but I don't think the author is going for that. There certainly is an aspect of Lagrangian Mechanics that should be focused on awe and wonder, and this books picks out that thread extremely well.
I have to say that - despite the title - I don't know who the audience is. If you are not a physicist, it doesn't seem to me that you'd have the background to follow the book. You at least need several semesters of calculus, and a differential equation course would be helpful too. So who are the non-physicists this book is targeting? I can see an interested undergraduate, or working graduate student, using this book as a study guide *for sure*, but again - not in fields other then physics.
Still, I don't want to take away from the quality of the book as a text - it reads the way my colleagues and I talk about Lagrangian Mechanics, which is a great thing!
Theoretical physicist here - this book is a great journey through the world of Lagrangian Mechanics. The themes are good, the examples are interesting, and most importantly, it's all basically correct. It lacks some rigor, but I don't think the author is going for that. There certainly is an aspect of Lagrangian Mechanics that should be focused on awe and wonder, and this books picks out that thread extremely well.
I have to say that - despite the title - I don't know who the audience is. If you are not a physicist, it doesn't seem to me that you'd have the background to follow the book. You at least need several semesters of calculus, and a differential equation course would be helpful too. So who are the non-physicists this book is targeting? I can see an interested undergraduate, or working graduate student, using this book as a study guide *for sure*, but again - not in fields other then physics.
Still, I don't want to take away from the quality of the book as a text - it reads the way my colleagues and I talk about Lagrangian Mechanics, which is a great thing!
Displaying 1 of 1 review