Python Exercises in Classical Mechanics

Contemporary physics relies heavily on computer programming for analyzing data and modeling systems, yet time constraints often prevent undergraduate physics students from taking the computer science courses needed to develop these skills. This textbook integrates scientific programming instruction directly into a standard undergraduate classical mechanics physics course. Built to accompany John Taylor's popular Classical Mechanics, this text provides a series of interactive Python...
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Contemporary physics relies heavily on computer programming for analyzing data and modeling systems, yet time constraints often prevent undergraduate physics students from taking the computer science courses needed to develop these skills. This textbook integrates scientific programming instruction directly into a standard undergraduate classical mechanics physics course. Built to accompany John Taylor's popular Classical Mechanics, this text provides a series of interactive Python computational exercises that analyze classical mechanical systems from both analytical and numerical perspectives. The exercises guide students chapter-by-chapter through modeling classical physics systems such as the simple pendulum at high angle, two or more gravitational bodies in orbit, and damped, driven oscillators leading to period-doubling and chaos. The text uses guided instruction in critical programming techniques such as loops, logic, array manipulation, numerical integration, and data analysis and plotting to help intermediate physics students gain proficiency in both analytical and computational methods. It assumes no prior knowledge of programming on the part of the student and includes step-by-step instructions for starting the student programming in Python with the interactive Jupyter Notebook interface.