Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics • Hacker News Board

Re: Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics

#21

Post by santaclaus » Sun, Dec 22, 2013, 1:33 AM UTC

tgb wrote: post #10

reikonomusha wrote: post #2

Just to note for people who know about SICP: this book is not like that. The book jumps straight into basic principles of Lagrangian mechanics, talking about the least action principle and the Euler-Lagrange equations. It is not "mechanics 101 for smart people" like SICP is for computer science. With that said, the computational approach they take is unique and useful. You'd especially like it if you like Scheme and…

On the idea of "mechanics 101 for smart people" - can anyone recommend good books that are the analogs of SICP for other subjects? I'd love to know ones for, say, genetics or evolution as well as stats. I can say that Hubbard + Hubbard "Vector Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Differential Equations" does a good job of being that for vector calculus specifically and for exposure to theoretical mathematics.

I'm a big fan Landau and Lifshitz's "Mechanics." Starting from nothing they hit the major results in classical mechanics in 224 pages. Short. Sweet. Elegant.

Re: Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics

#22

Post by 3rd3 » Sun, Dec 22, 2013, 1:59 AM UTC

siddboots wrote: post #8

3rd3 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do Susskind’s lectures compare to Walter Lewin’s lectures?

They're completely different. Susskind won't teach you things like friction, drag, or elasticity. But, he will teach you some of the most profound theoretical insights of modern physics. Lewin won't teach you Euler-Lagrange Equations, or Noether's Theorem. But, he will teach you how to think about solving practical physics problems. They also have different sense of humour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApUFtLCrU90#…

And how do both compare to Penrose's Road To Reality and the Feynman Lectures on Physics?

Re: Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics

#23

Post by DonGateley » Sun, Dec 22, 2013, 2:23 AM UTC

Wow! Last night I picked up Dirac's little "Lectures on Quantum Mechanics" and stumbled at the start because my '60s mechanics education didn't include the Lagrangian, much less the Hamiltonian.

Today comes this and it should be more than enough for me to give Dirac another solid whack! Maybe enough, even, to come out the other side given another fundamental or two.

Re: Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics

#24

Post by zbinga » Sun, Dec 22, 2013, 4:37 AM UTC

batbomb wrote: post #4

reikonomusha wrote: post #2

Just to note for people who know about SICP: this book is not like that. The book jumps straight into basic principles of Lagrangian mechanics, talking about the least action principle and the Euler-Lagrange equations. It is not "mechanics 101 for smart people" like SICP is for computer science. With that said, the computational approach they take is unique and useful. You'd especially like it if you like Scheme and…

Learning Lagrangian mechanics was like falling in love all over again with your girlfriend when you discovered exactly how elegant she could be. Easily my favorite part of classical mechanics as an undergrad.

This. Exactly this, and I think it's not a coincidence that learning Scheme was also like this, but for programming.

Re: Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics

#25

Post by ics » Sun, Dec 22, 2013, 5:30 AM UTC

CurtMonash wrote: post #20

tgb wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the idea of "mechanics 101 for smart people" - can anyone recommend good books that are the analogs of SICP for other subjects? I'd love to know ones for, say, genetics or evolution as well as stats. I can say that Hubbard + Hubbard "Vector Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Differential Equations" does a good job of being that for vector calculus specifically and for exposure to theoretical mathematics.

On a more elementary level, Michael Spivak's Calculus is an amazing book on first-year calculus. He also wrote Calculus on Manifolds and a 5-volume series on Differential Geometry. Those, to put it mildly, were rougher going. I actually once got a crush on a dorm-mate in large part because I saw Calculus on Manifolds on her bookshelf. It wasn't reciprocal, however. Later in life, she went on to run the Bureau of Labo…

> I actually once got a crush on a dorm-mate in large part because I saw Calculus on Manifolds on her bookshelf. It wasn't reciprocal, however. Later in life, she went on to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

I had someone I'd never met before see my copy which happened to be the international edition (in Chinese, with English in the back) and then assume I spoke fluent Mandarin. Your story's a lot better :)

Re: Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics

#26

Post by cybp » Sun, Dec 22, 2013, 5:36 AM UTC

For those who have not seen it, this is based on SCMUTILS -- an open source symbolic manipulation engine, much like Mathematica or Maple. It is extremely powerful, and the book is worth reading just to understand the design patterns used there.

To give an example, in a dozen lines of readable, intuitive code, you can:

* write a lagrangian as a normal Scheme function

* symbolically take derivatives of that to get equations of motion

* print those equations with LaTeX.

* compile those equations to native code and numerically integrate and plot the motion of the system

It's like magic the first time you see it.

Re: Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics

#27

Post by magoghm » Sun, Dec 22, 2013, 7:14 AM UTC

bsaul wrote: post #3

For those interested, Leonard susskin video course in stanford ( can be found anywhere ) on classical mechanics is one of the most beautiful piece of intellectual material i've ever been given the chance to see.

I just watched the first 2 videos, they are great. Thank you!

Re: Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics

#28

Post by auvrw » Sun, Dec 22, 2013, 8:23 AM UTC

ever since watching sussman's talk http://www.infoq.com/presentations/We-Really-Dont-Know-How-T... i've been curious to see these details. really good post.

the jibe about, "our competitors," at the end of the preface left a bad taste in my mouth, though. i'd really like to think that was tongue-in-cheek and people as tenured as these guys, if anyone, can afford to think of math and science as the collaborative effort that it is rather than a competition.

Re: Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics

#29

Post by losethos » Sun, Dec 22, 2013, 9:05 AM UTC

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C:\TAD\Text\BIBLE.TXT

And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

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6:9 Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.

6:10 And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by w

Re: Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics

#30

Post by tMcGrath » Sun, Dec 22, 2013, 9:29 AM UTC

tgb wrote: post #10

reikonomusha wrote: post #2

Just to note for people who know about SICP: this book is not like that. The book jumps straight into basic principles of Lagrangian mechanics, talking about the least action principle and the Euler-Lagrange equations. It is not "mechanics 101 for smart people" like SICP is for computer science. With that said, the computational approach they take is unique and useful. You'd especially like it if you like Scheme and…

On the idea of "mechanics 101 for smart people" - can anyone recommend good books that are the analogs of SICP for other subjects? I'd love to know ones for, say, genetics or evolution as well as stats. I can say that Hubbard + Hubbard "Vector Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Differential Equations" does a good job of being that for vector calculus specifically and for exposure to theoretical mathematics.

For statistics I can really recommend 'All of Statistics' by Larry Wasserman (http://www.stat.cmu.edu/~larry/all-of-statistics/)

It runs through a lot of important topics, particularly in inference, without being either as turgid as most stats texts for people without a maths background or as dry as more 'pure' books (no measure theory required).

For biology I'd recommend 'Physical Biology of the Cell' (http://microsite.garlandscience.com/pboc2/) if you like to think quantitatively. About evolution specifically I find Schrodinger's 'What is Life?' thought-provoking if you already know the basics.