Recent content by cancerman1

That's helpful framing. I better understand the rationale for the setup in this example. Appreciate it

Yes, this should be good for this specific problem. To generalize a methodology and approach, it's best to start with forces acting on discrete systems and writing up force equations - which is not dissimilar to how one would solve a kinematics problem... would you say that's correct?

Yes, thank you - your starting point makes it so much clearer versus example 4.7 which starts with the center of mass. I can logically reason why the setup would be as noted above - a force is applied to block a, and then blocks a and b accelerate from rest but is connected by a spring so that...

TL;DR Summary: How do I approach the setup of this problem? It seems very different than a setup for a kinematics problem I'm self studying first year mechanics and am having a hard time with the following problem (screenshot attached). The example is from Intro to Mechanics by K&K. I'm...

Thank you - that's very helpful. Online resources that I can rely on to bolster my trig? Is Khan Academy a good place?

I have a biochem degree and have first year calc, linear algebra, and the pre-reqs for those (high school algebra and trig). I have to confess it's been a very long time since I've looked at that stuff and I'm having to refresh on the topic. I've found Khan Academy to be an excellent resource...

Thanks for this comment. I'm glad to learn that I'm not completely dumb LOL Some of the problems don't fully explain the setup and it's taking me a very long time to reason through things. And even when I do, I'm not 100% sure that my logic is correct because I don't have a TA or prof to talk...

Thank you! I've attached two problems: the first one I was able to get but the approach for the second one was very different and I couldn't figure out (starting from first principles) why you'd use this approach. The first one is straight forward. Calculating the force (tension) on a dangling...

Thank you for the warm welcome and replies everyone. It’s much appreciated! I’ve replied individually below. ps – I have 10+ years of experience as an independent consultant, have build one startup, working on my second, and have a network of founders and VCs that I’m connected with. If you’re...

TL;DR Summary: Is there a mental model for setting up equations of motion and related mathematical equations when tackling mechanics problems? Hi there, I'm going through a first year mechanics textbook (An Introduction to Mechanics by Kleppner et al) from MIT OpenCourseware as I'm interested...

Hey there, I'm a professional program manager in IT and am interested in mechanical engineering. I've decided to use MIT Open Learning courses to construct a self study program. The concepts, while straight forward, are proving more difficult once I get to the applied problem (math) parts...