Preface

These lecture notes follow the lectures delivered to the first semester students of the Integrated Masters Program in Science of University of Hyderabad.


The class consisted of about sixty four students who would later in the third year branch out to their Masters' program in different subjects of science, viz, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Systems Biology. Several students had very little or no exposure to  differential and integral calculus and differential equations. Many of them, though had used vectors, but were not comfortable with vector algebra and analytical geometry.

All the students had an exposure to the Newtonian mechanics in their 12th class. But had varying levels of confidence in applications to standard problems. Some of the students were very enthusiastic and prepared to take on new and challenging topics.


The goal that was set for the design this course was modest one to raise bring every one to a common, higher level and at the same time to avoid repetition and provide new insights and to provide complete picture  of new topics such as non inertial frames and rigid body dynamics.

The course was planned (three lectures per week) to consist of five major components.

•    Mathematical preparation
•    Review of Newtonian Mechanics
•    Non-inertial frames
•    Conservation laws and Applications
•    Rigid body dynamics

The applications of Newtonian mechanics was taken up mostly during the tutorial sessions only. In addition to this, there problems related to the topics covered in the  lectures were also included as part of tutorials.

All tutorial sets, other assignments, test and examination papers are being made available at the end. The solutions, not available at this time, may be made available in near future.

 All lectures were recorded on a digital voice recorder and snap shots of blackboards were taken. These were then used to produce the lecture notes very close to the lectures actually delivered to the class. A few topics have been rearranged and some minor improvements have been made. For this reason this set lecture notes is  not a polished and finished product. For example, while delivering the lectures sometimes it was found necessary to repeat an earlier topic, it appears in the notes as well  in the same fashion. Ambiguities/errors  in assignments and other course material  have been brought to my notice. A revised and corrected version of the course will be made available  in near future.

As the audio recordings of most of the lecture sessions was available it was decided to include  questions by students, their responses to my questions and the discussions during the lectures. This is a unique feature of these lecture notes.

I thank all my students for their support and participation in the course.  By sheer presence in the class, if nothing else, each and every one has contributed to the planning of the course and preparation of these lecture notes. I thank them for making teaching enjoyable and specially for turning the very last few minutes of this course on the very last day of the teaching in  the University of Hyderabad a memorable experience.


Special thanks are due to Vijay Kumar who provided valuable assistance during the tutorial sessions, for his active involvement in running of the course and suggestions regarding all aspects of lectures and course content. I  thank K.P.N. Murthy for making a visit to Birla Science Museum a reality. I also thank the staff of Centre for Integrated Studies for all the support they provided during the course.