Designed for a first-year graduate-level or senior course in dynamics for students in engineering and physics, this text will also be useful for self-study and as a reference book for students working in this area. Prerequisites include previous courses in statics, calculus, and basic ordinary differential equations. The treatment stresses the fundamentals of setting up and solving dynamics problems rather than the indiscriminate use of elaborate formulas.
Topics include essential material for dynamics, kinematics and dynamics of point masses, kinematic analysis of planar mechanisms, special dynamical properties of a system of point masses, dynamics of rigid bodies in "simpler" planar motion, dynamics of rigid bodies in general motion, analytical dynamics, and vibrations and oscillations of dynamical systems. Four of the seven appendixes include tutorials on relevant software, a listing of several simulation and animation programs written by the author, as well as answers to selected problems and references for advanced study. Includes a software package available as a free download from Dover's website.