Classical Mechanics with Calculus of Variations – An Intuitive Introduction Levi

Classical Mechanics with Calculus of Variations and Optimal ControlAn Intuitive Introduction\nAuthor(s): Mark Levi\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: American Mathematical Society, United States\nImprint: American Mathematical Society\nISBN-13: 9780821891384, 978-0821891384\nSynopsis\nThis is an intuitively motivated presentation of many topics in classical mechanics and related areas of control theory and calculus of variations. All topics throughout the book are treated with zero tolerance for unrevealing definitions and for proofs which leave the reader in the dark. \n\nSome areas of particular interest are: an extremely short derivation of the ellipticity of planetary orbits; a statement and an explanation of the tennis racket paradox''; a heuristic explanation (and a rigorous treatment) of the gyroscopic effect; a revealing equivalence between the dynamics of a particle and statics of a spring; a short geometrical explanation of Pontryagin's Maximum Principle, and more. \n\nIn the l.