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Perfect Form: Variational Principles, Methods, and Applications in Elementary Physics
Don S. Lemons
€ 59.78
€ 46.44
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Description for Perfect Form: Variational Principles, Methods, and Applications in Elementary Physics
Paperback. Introduces the basic 'variational' principles of classical physics, develops the mathematical language suited to their application, and presents applications from the physics encountered in introductory course sequences. This book is designed to supplement classical mechanics texts and to present variational principles and methods to students. Num Pages: 136 pages, 39 line illus. BIC Classification: PHD. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational; (U) Tertiary Education (US: College). Dimension: 229 x 152 x 8. Weight in Grams: 171.
What does the path taken by a ray of light share with the trajectory of a thrown baseball and the curve of a wheat stalk bending in the breeze? Each is the subject of a different study yet all are optimal shapes; light rays minimize travel time while a thrown baseball minimizes action. All natural curves and shapes, and many artificial ones, manifest such "perfect form" because physical principles can be expressed as a statement requiring some important physical quantity to be mathematically maximum, minimum, or stationary. Perfect Form introduces the basic "variational" principles of classical physics (least time, least ... Read more
What does the path taken by a ray of light share with the trajectory of a thrown baseball and the curve of a wheat stalk bending in the breeze? Each is the subject of a different study yet all are optimal shapes; light rays minimize travel time while a thrown baseball minimizes action. All natural curves and shapes, and many artificial ones, manifest such "perfect form" because physical principles can be expressed as a statement requiring some important physical quantity to be mathematically maximum, minimum, or stationary. Perfect Form introduces the basic "variational" principles of classical physics (least time, least ... Read more
Product Details
Format
Paperback
Publication date
1997
Publisher
Princeton University Press United States
Number of pages
136
Condition
New
Number of Pages
136
Place of Publication
New Jersey, United States
ISBN
9780691026633
SKU
V9780691026633
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 7 to 11 working days
Ref
99-1
About Don S. Lemons
Don S. Lemons is Associate Professor of Physics at Bethel College of North Newton, Kansas.
Reviews for Perfect Form: Variational Principles, Methods, and Applications in Elementary Physics
"[The] ability of variational methods to derive fundamental results in physics hints at their being a kind of short cut towards truly fundamental insights into the design of the cosmos... Don Lemon's short book is aimed at bringing these techniques within reach of the average undergraduate physics student."
Robert Matthews, New Scientist
Robert Matthews, New Scientist