Approach your problems from the right end It isn't that they can't see the solution. and begin with the answers. Then one day, It is that they can't see the problem. perhaps you will find the final question. G. K. Chesterton. The Scandal of Father 'The Hermit Clad in Crane Feathers' Brown 'The point of a Pin'. in R. van Gulik's The Chinese Maze Murders. Growing specialization and diversification have brought a host of monographs and textbooks on increasingly specialized topics. However, the "tree" of knowledge of mathematics and related fields does not grow only by putting forth new branches. It also happens, quite often in fact, that branches which were thouglit to be completely disparate are suddenly seen to be related. Further, the kind and level of sophistication of mathematics applied in various sci ences has changed drastically in recent years: measure theory is used (non-trivially) in re gional and theoretical economics; algebraic geometry interacts with physics; the Minkowsky lemma, coding theory and the structure of water meet one another in packing and covering theory; quantum fields, crystal defects and mathematical programming profit from homo topy theory; Lie algebras are relevant to filtering; and prediction and electrical engineering can use Stein spaces.

This is a short tract on the essentials of differential and symplectic geometry together with a basic introduction to several applications of this rich framework: analytical mechanics, the calculus of variations, conjugate points & Morse index, and other physical topics. A central feature is the systematic utilization of Lagrangian submanifolds and their Maslov-Hörmander generating functions. Following this line of thought, first introduced by Wlodemierz Tulczyjew, geometric solutions of Hamilton-Jacobi equations, Hamiltonian vector fields and canonical transformations are described by suitable Lagrangian submanifolds belonging to distinct well-defined symplectic structures. This unified point of view has been particularly fruitful in symplectic topology, which is the modern Hamiltonian environment for the calculus of variations, yielding sharp sufficient existence conditions. This line of investigation was initiated by Claude Viterbo in 1992; here, some primary consequences of this theory are exposed in Chapter 8: aspects of Poincaré's last geometric theorem and the Arnol'd conjecture are introduced. In Chapter 7 elements of the global asymptotic treatment of the highly oscillating integrals for the Schrödinger equation are discussed: as is well known, this eventually leads to the theory of Fourier Integral Operators. This short handbook is directed toward graduate students in Mathematics and Physics and to all those who desire a quick introduction to these beautiful subjects.

This book constructs the mathematical apparatus of classical mechanics from the beginning, examining basic problems in dynamics like the theory of oscillations and the Hamiltonian formalism. The author emphasizes geometrical considerations and includes phase spaces and flows, vector fields, and Lie groups. Discussion includes qualitative methods of the theory of dynamical systems and of asymptotic methods like averaging and adiabatic invariance.

The goal of these notes is to provide a fast introduction to symplectic geometry for graduate students with some knowledge of differential geometry, de Rham theory and classical Lie groups. This text addresses symplectomorphisms, local forms, contact manifolds, compatible almost complex structures, Kaehler manifolds, hamiltonian mechanics, moment maps, symplectic reduction and symplectic toric manifolds. It contains guided problems, called homework, designed to complement the exposition or extend the reader's understanding. There are by now excellent references on symplectic geometry, a subset of which is in the bibliography of this book. However, the most efficient introduction to a subject is often a short elementary treatment, and these notes attempt to serve that purpose. This text provides a taste of areas of current research and will prepare the reader to explore recent papers and extensive books on symplectic geometry where the pace is much faster. For this reprint numerous corrections and clarifications have been made, and the layout has been improved.

The differential geometric formulation of analytical mechanics not only offers a new insight into Mechanics, but also provides a more rigorous formulation of its physical content from a mathematical viewpoint.Topics covered in this volume include differential forms, the differential geometry of tangent and cotangent bundles, almost tangent geometry, symplectic and pre-symplectic Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms, tensors and connections on manifolds, and geometrical aspects of variational and constraint theories.The book may be considered as a self-contained text and only presupposes that readers are acquainted with linear and multilinear algebra as well as advanced calculus.

With the direct, accessible, and pragmatic approach of Fowles and Cassiday's ANALYTICAL MECHANICS, Seventh Edition, thoroughly revised for clarity and concision, students will grasp challenging concepts in introductory mechanics. A complete exposition of the fundamentals of classical mechanics, this proven and enduring introductory text is a standard for the undergraduate Mechanics course. Numerical worked examples increased students' problem-solving skills, while textual discussions aid in student understanding of theoretical material through the use of specific cases.

Foundations of Mechanics is a mathematical exposition of classical mechanics with an introduction to the qualitative theory of dynamical systems and applications to the two-body problem and three-body problem.

First published in 1987, this text offers concise but clear explanations and derivations to give readers a confident grasp of the chain of argument that leads from Newton’s laws through Lagrange’s equations and Hamilton’s principle, to Hamilton’s equations and canonical transformations. This new edition has been extensively revised and updated to include: A chapter on symplectic geometry and the geometric interpretation of some of the coordinate calculations. A more systematic treatment of the conections with the phase-plane analysis of ODEs; and an improved treatment of Euler angles. A greater emphasis on the links to special relativity and quantum theory showing how ideas from this classical subject link into contemporary areas of mathematics and theoretical physics. A wealth of examples show the subject in action and a range of exercises – with solutions – are provided to help test understanding.

These notes are based on a course entitled ``Symplectic Geometry and Geometric Quantization'' taught by Alan Weinstein at the University of California, Berkeley (fall 1992) and at the Centre Emile Borel (spring 1994). The only prerequisite for the course needed is a knowledge of the basic notions from the theory of differentiable manifolds (differential forms, vector fields, transversality, etc.). The aim is to give students an introduction to the ideas of microlocal analysis and the related symplectic geometry, with an emphasis on the role these ideas play in formalizing the transition between the mathematics of classical dynamics (hamiltonian flows on symplectic manifolds) and quantum mechanics (unitary flows on Hilbert spaces). These notes are meant to function as a guide to the literature. The authors refer to other sources for many details that are omitted and can be bypassed on a first reading.

The new edition of a classic text that concentrates on developing general methods for studying the behavior of classical systems, with extensive use of computation. We now know that there is much more to classical mechanics than previously suspected. Derivations of the equations of motion, the focus of traditional presentations of mechanics, are just the beginning. This innovative textbook, now in its second edition, concentrates on developing general methods for studying the behavior of classical systems, whether or not they have a symbolic solution. It focuses on the phenomenon of motion and makes extensive use of computer simulation in its explorations of the topic. It weaves recent discoveries in nonlinear dynamics throughout the text, rather than presenting them as an afterthought. Explorations of phenomena such as the transition to chaos, nonlinear resonances, and resonance overlap to help the student develop appropriate analytic tools for understanding. The book uses computation to constrain notation, to capture and formalize methods, and for simulation and symbolic analysis. The requirement that the computer be able to interpret any expression provides the student with strict and immediate feedback about whether an expression is correctly formulated. This second edition has been updated throughout, with revisions that reflect insights gained by the authors from using the text every year at MIT. In addition, because of substantial software improvements, this edition provides algebraic proofs of more generality than those in the previous edition; this improvement permeates the new edition.