This book, based on courses given to physics and applied mathematics students at Imperial College, deals with the mechanics of particles and rigid
bodies. It is designed for students with some previous acquaintance with
the elementary concepts of mechanics, but the book starts from first principles, and little detailed knowledge is assumed. An essential prerequisite is a
reasonable familiarity with differential and integral calculus, including partial differentiation. However, no prior knowledge of differential equations
should be needed. Vectors are used from the start in the text itself; the
necessary definitions and mathematical results are collected in an appendix.