This is a statics and dynamics text for second or third year engineering students with an emphasis on vectors, free body diagrams, the basic momentum balance principles, and the utility of computation. Students often start a course like this thinking of mechanics reasoning as being vague and complicated. Our aim is to replace this loose thinking with concrete and simple mechanics problem-solving skills that live harmoniously with a useful mechanical intuition.
Knowledge of freshman calculus is assumed. Although most students have seen vector dot and cross products, vector topics are introduced from scratch in the context of mechanics. The use of matrices (to tidy-up systems of linear equations) and of differential equations (for describing motion in dynamics) are presented to the extent needed. The set-up of equations for computer solutions is presented in a pseudolanguage easily translated by a student into one or another computation package that the student knows.