How to use Kleppner and Kolenkow and how to employ problem solving?

[warhammer]

I am an undergrad in Physics and got acquainted with the aforementioned book.

I want to know how the other PF Members have used the book as such, and do they have some advice for me on the same.

I am also inclined to know how does one solve the problems of K&K whose concept may be straightforward & understandable yet the problem solving method to "attack" the question doesn't click. For instance, extensive usage of constraint equations gets a bit tricky even if one understands the underlying concept behind the problem. This is just an instance, and I dearly wish to know the PoVs of fellow members!

 

[MidgetDwarf]

I would make sure that analytical geometry and results pertaining to similar triangles, congruent triangles, congruent angles are understood.

Trig: law of sines, cosines, and other topics found in a standard trigonometry class.

Single variable, and multi-Variable calculus.

If a problem is too hard, try rereading the relevant section(s). Also, maybe adding your own constraints to make the problem easier, then generalizing it as you go, in order to solve the given problem.

It doesn't hurt to work out problems from a standard physics book without looking up the solution. I found KK a bit difficult, but manageable. Looking up solutions will come to haunt you later down the road, so get into the habit of not doing that.

 

[gmax137]

I want to know how the other PF Members have used the book as such, and do they have some advice for me on the same.

KK was the assigned text in my classical mechanics class many years ago. So the prof lectured from it and assigned problem sets. Are you using it on your own, outside of class? I think that would be very difficult unless you are a determined and disciplined student. I sure was not.

@MidgetDwarf offers good advice.

 

[warhammer]

KK was the assigned text in my classical mechanics class many years ago. So the prof lectured from it and assigned problem sets. Are you using it on your own, outside of class? I think that would be very difficult unless you are a determined and disciplined student. I sure was not.

@MidgetDwarf offers good advice.

Thank you for your response. Actually KK is the standard textbook being used and prescribed by our Prof. However there is a lot of learning crunch due to online only method as well as time constraint due to a truncated semester as a result of Covid lockdowns etc. So things are a bit rushed and Prof. is a bit overwhelmed.

 

[atyy]

Just spend a lot (a lot) of time thinking about the problems (and try doing them, even if you get stuck multiple times by multiple approaches). Don't worry, K&K is (very) hard even for seniors in physics. Later, when you learn the methods of analytic mechanics like the Lagrangian formalism, you will find that they make many K&K problems easy. But till then they are hard for almost everyone.

I'm very glad I don't have to do K&K problems anymore.

 

[warhammer]

Just spend a lot (a lot) of time thinking about the problems (and try doing them, even if you get stuck multiple times by multiple approaches). Don't worry, K&K is (very) hard even for seniors in physics. Later, when you learn the methods of analytic mechanics like the Lagrangian formalism, you will find that they make many K&K problems easy. But till then they are hard for almost everyone.

I'm very glad I don't have to do K&K problems anymore.

Sorry for such a late response sir. Thank you so much for your guidance. I have gauged a very strange thing. Working through K&K in conjunction with a book like Classical Mechanics by John Taylor (considered to be a level higher than K&K) has been quite helpful! As directed however, I will continue to keep attacking the problems and resist the urge to look at the solutions!

 

[robphy]

Sorry for such a late response sir. Thank you so much for your guidance. I have gauged a very strange thing. Working through K&K in conjunction with a book like Classical Mechanics by John Taylor (considered to be a level higher than K&K) has been quite helpful! As directed however, I will continue to keep attacking the problems and resist the urge to look at the solutions!

When I was an undergrad, I often did this. Peeking at the next level text (even if I didn't really understand it at that level) helped me see the bigger picture and appreciate what would become more important later. Of course, I still had to understand the current-level text.

 

[dextercioby]

Can you, perhaps, write two lines why Taylor's Classical Mechanics text is "next level" compared to Kleppner & Kolenkov?

 

[Vanadium 50]

Taylor covers Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics. It is suitable for upper-division undergrads. K&K is, or at least was, used for MIT's freshman physics class.

 

[Mondayman]

The problems from Taylor were a bit easier than K&K in my experience. Mind you I had a teacher for Taylor and not for K&K.

 

[dextercioby]

Taylor covers Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics. It is suitable for upper-division undergrads. K&K is, or at least was, used for MIT's freshman physics class.

Oh, so this is the American way, how many times does go through classical mechanics until graduation as a Bachelor of Physics? Two or three times?

 

[vanhees71]

Well, in Germany we have mechanics in the 1st semester in both the experimental and the theoretical physics course lecture ("naive Newtonian mechanics") and in the 2nd semester in theoretical physics ("analytical mechanics", i.e., action principle and all that).

 

[PeroK]

Can you, perhaps, write two lines why Taylor's Classical Mechanics text is "next level" compared to Kleppner & Kolenkov?

Taylor is more sophisticated mathematically. The second chapter, for example, deals with linear and quadratic air resistance.

 

[vela]

Oh, so this is the American way, how many times does go through classical mechanics until graduation as a Bachelor of Physics? Two or three times?

When I was in college, it was twice. The first time was in the intro physics course. This was the sequence physics majors and engineering majors took. For some students, it's the first time they've taken a physics course. Then in the junior year, physics majors would take a course in classical mechanics, which covers the same basic concepts as in intro physics but in a more mathematically sophisticated way and also covers Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics.