Instructor: Wolfgang Tichy
Office: Science and Engineering (SE) 444
E-mail: wolf "at" fau.edu (be sure to put PHY 6247 in the subject line)
Phone: 7-3380
Class Website:
https://wolf.mathprotutoring.com/Teaching/2025_grad_Mechanics/index.html
Office Hours: Tuesdays 16:50-18:00, Thursdays 16:50-18:00, or by appointment
Catalog description:
Mechanics (PHY 6247) 3 credits
Classical mechanics from the advanced standpoint: Hamilton's principle,
Lagrange's and Hamilton's equations, canonical transformations,
Hamilton-Jacobi equations, and integral invariants.
Textbook: Classical Mechanics, 3rd Edition, H. Goldstein, C. Poole and J. Safko
Other books:
Mechanics, L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifschitz
Course objectives:
This class provides a formal introduction to classical mechanics.
It introduces tools such as the Lagrangian and the Hamiltonian
and shows how the equations of motion can be derived from them.
It's emphasis is on solving problems. Examples cover central forces,
rigid bodies and small oscillations.
Topics covered:
Homework:
Homework problems and their due dates will be posted on the class
website.
You will loose about 10% of the maximum score for each day
your homework is late.
Homework policy:
You must solve the problems yourself. This is the optimal way to learn the
material. If you are stuck on a problem you may discuss it with other
students or the instructor. However, this discussion should be limited to
understanding the essential point(s) so that you can go ahead and solve most
of the problem yourself.
In particular, do not use solution sets from problem/solution books,
or any other sources where you can simply look up your homework problems!
Grades will be based on the following:
| Activity | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Homework | 20% |
| Midterm Exam 1 | 25% |
| Midterm Exam 2 | 25% |
| Final Exam | 30% |
Tentative exam dates:
Midterm Exam 1: Thursday 9/25/2025 in class
Midterm Exam 2: Thursday 10/30/2025 in class
Final Exam: Thursday 12/4/2025 13:15-16:45 in SE 319
Exam Make up policy:
In general any missed exam will count as if the student has obtained zero
points. If the student can convince the instructor that the exam was missed
for a good reason, the student's grade will be computed from the remaining
exams and homework.
Strange Florida law issues:
Students enrolled in this course may be allowed to record video or audio
of class lectures in certain cases. To find out more read, the official
university policies.
But even in allowed cases, it is much more polite (and also prudent) to ask
for instructor agreement before starting to record.
FAU policy statements:
Please see the so called "Simple Syllabus" in Canvas for all official
FAU policies.