Looking for sources on the Gauss Principle and the Gibbs-Apell equations

[andresB]

In the usual literature about analytical mechanics, I find very little about the Gauss principle of less constraints and the Gibbs-Apell equations. I think the only treatment I've seen on Gauss is given In Lanczos's The variational principle of mechanics".

So, I'm looking for introductory and readable books and other sources about the topic.

 

[Frabjous]

Pars A Treatise on Analytical Dynamics
Papastavridis Analytical Mechanics: A Comprehensive Treatise on the Dynamics of Constrained Systems

 

[andresB]

Opening Pars after a long time, I just remembered that he writes f for the acceleration. Worst. Notation. Ever.

 

[Frabjous]

I looked at Whittaker and he also uses f. So maybe early 20th Century Britain had not been exposed to the wonders of a. He talks briefly about your stuff in Chapter 9.