Classical Mechanics A Computational Approach with Examples Using Mathematica and Python

The Classical Mechanics textbook by Kulp and Pagonis does an excellent job of integrating a computational perspective, using both Mathematica and Python, into a traditional theoretical mechanics course. It is well written with meaningful computational examples which greatly assist in reinforcing and visualizing conceptual topics that are typically taught using a pen-paper approach. I strongly recommend the book.

- Trinanjan Datta, Professor of Physics, Augusta University, July 2025

"Classical Mechanics" by Christopher Kulp and Vasilis Pagonis will be a valuable resource for any student wishing to develop a deep understanding of Newtonian, Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics. A clear exposition of the fundamental ideas and techniques is supported by numerous examples and applications; but alongside the traditional algebraic methods for solving problems in classical mechanics the book also covers computational techniques. The authors show how symbolic and numeric computer codes can be used as powerful tools for investigating the behaviour of mechanical systems: as well as the strong pedagogical benefits of active learning, the use of computational tools greatly enlarges the range of systems that can be explored by the student. Numerous examples are presented in both Python and Mathematica, and it should be possible for students to adapt codes given in the text to other languages. The power of the approach taken in the book, already evident in the first edition, is enhanced in the second edition by a greatly expanded number of computational examples. In addition, two new appendices providing introductions to Python and Mathematica will make the book accessible even to students with little or no prior experience of these programming languages.

- Andrzej Wolski, University of Liverpool, July 2025