Mathematics

General targets: To acquire basic knowledge in classical mechanics. Knowledge and understanding: Students who have passed the exam will be able to construct mathematical models not only for problems of mechanical nature, and to use analytic and qualitative methods of ordinary differential equations to deal with them. Applying knowledge and understanding: Students who have passed the exam will be able: i) to perform the qualitative analysis on the phase space for one-dimensional conservative systems and to obtain quantitative estimates; ii) to study problems of stability of equilibrium points elementary methods of Liapunov; iii) to calculate frequencies of normal modes around stable equilibria; iv) to choose properly Lagrangian coordinates for particular configuration manifolds (like Euler angles for SO(3), spherical coordinates, etc.); iv) to recognize the variational nature of Lagrange equations and their implications; v) to use specific criteria for searching prime integrals in Lagrange equations and to perform the subsequent reduction to a smaller number of degrees of freedom. Making judgements: Students who have passed the exam will have the basis to analyze the similarities between the topics covered in the course and the already acquired knowledges in analysis and geometry; they will also acquire important tools and ideas that have historically led to the solution of fundamental problems of classical mechanics. Communication skills: Students who have passed the exam will have gained the ability to communicate concepts, ideas and methodologies of analytical mechanics. Learning skills: The acquired knowledge will allow students who have passed the exam to face the study, at an individual level or in a master's degree course, of specialized aspects of classical mechanics and, more generally, of the theory of dynamical systems.