Elements of Newtonian mechanics. Including nonlinear dynamics. (Q4490771)

[For the 2nd ed. see the authors, Berlin: Springer Verlag (1996; Zbl 0856.70003).] This textbook is intended for the entry-level course in Newtonian mechanics for university students of physics, astronomy, and engineering sciences. The book presents an excellent description of basic principles of classical mechanics. Although certain fundamental aspects of Newtonian mechanics have been revised in the 20th century, Newton's formulation of laws of motion, being a wonderful theory, still finds widespread use in applied and natural sciences. The book contains the historical information about prerequisites for Newton: Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) and Johannes Kepler (1571-1630). The book also describes Newton's laws of motion, the concepts of absolute space and time, and Newton's analysis of Kepler's laws, which have brought to the discovery of general law of gravity. The authors formulate the Newton's second law in accelerated reference frames, and apply the Newtonian mechanics to the study of motion of planets. The authors also give a very interesting initial information about chaos in the solar system. In reviewer's opinion, it should be convenient to mention here the fictitious forces which can be defined only indirectly, via the equations of motion, following academician A. Yu. Ishlinskii, as well as Euler forces. This book can be useful not only to students, but also to specialists who teach the powerful methods of Newtonian mechanics and the imaginary Newton's world governed by laws of classical mechanics.