PREFACE. 



ABOUT one-half of this volume is devoted to the kinetics of a particle, 

 the remainder being given to the study of the kinetics of a rigid body 

 and a brief discussion of the fundamental principles of the kinetics of a 

 system. 



The first part of the chapter on the motion of a particle (impact, 

 rectilinear motion) gradually introduces and illustrates in an elementary 

 way such fundamental ideas as momentum, impulse, kinetic energy, 

 force, work, potential energy, power. Then the general equations of 

 motion of a particle are discussed ; and the principle of kinetic energy 

 (or vis viva), that of angular momentum (or of areas), and the prin- 

 ciple of d'Alembert are explained and applied, first to the motion of a 

 free particle (central forces), then to constrained motion. The example 

 of such recent writers as Budde and Appell has been followed in treating 

 the constraints of a particle with more than usual fulness, introducing 

 generalized co-ordinates, and establishing the equations of motion 

 of a particle in the Lagrangian form. It is believed that this will 

 materially aid the student in understanding the use of these methods 

 in the general case of the motion of a system. 



The chapter on the motion of a rigid body, after a discussion of the 

 fundamental principles and of the theory of moments and ellipsoids 

 of inertia, takes up separately the action of impulses and the motion 

 under continuous forces. The last chapter, on the motion of a system, 

 is necessarily brief, owing to the elementary character of the treatise. 

 A sketch of the theory of Lagrange's generalized co-ordinates and of 

 Hamilton's principle is, however, included. 



For a shorter course, the Articles 104-159, 180-188, 190-217, 225, 

 262, 268-272, 274-290, 304-310, 320-323, 327, 329-332, 336-356, 

 391-397 may be omitted. 



ALEXANDER ZIWET. 



ANN ARBOR, MICH., 

 October, 1894. 



