Welcome to the course page for Physics 231, Classical Mechanics. The goal of this course is for you to develop problem-solving skills and apply these skills to real-world situations. If you are not careful, you will learn a lot of physics too!
This course is the first third-year-level course in the physics major curriculum. It will describe and develop modern methods and techniques used in solving classical mechanics problems. Topics to be covered include the following: A review of Newtonian mechanics, a development of Lagrange's method, applications of Lagrange's method to one- and two-dimensional motion, central forces, collisions, oscillations, accelerated coordinate systems and geometrical phases, and rigid-body rotations. Familiarity with the topics covered in Introduction to Mathematical Methods (PHYS-150) is assumed, in particular, I expect everyone to understand how to use MATHEMATICA.
Some problems will involve using MATHEMATICA for algebraic manipulation,
programming, or plotting. The emphasis in this course will always be placed
on understanding the underlying physical concepts and computer use is to
be viewed as a tool that helps one solve problems and is not to be viewed
as an end among itself.
Simon
Stevinus (1548-1620) 
Galileo
Galilei (1564-1642)
Sir
Isaac Newton (1643-1727) 
Leonhard
Euler (1707-1783)
Jean
d'Alembert (1717-1783) 
Joseph-Louis
Lagrange (1736-1813)
Sir
William Hamilton (1805-1865) 
Albert
Einstein (1879-1955)