JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY

School of Physical Sciences

PS412: Classical Mechanics

Instructor: R Ramaswamy Monsoon Semester 2017

Tutorial 1 Due date: Friday, August 18

Please hand in your completed assignments by 18 August to one of the tutors for the course
(Samir or Jabir). Please try to do them on your own.

1. Classify the fixed points and sketch the vector fields for the dynamical systems

(a) x = (x a)/(x2 + b),

(b) x = 2x + x2 x3 ,

(c) x = (1 y 2 )(1 x2 ), y = x2 (1 + y).

2. Consider the 2 2 matrix

0 1
A= .
1 0

Evaluate the matrix B = cos A.

2t 2t t

3. Compute the curvature and torsion of the curve ~r(t) = cos , sin , in R3 .
5 5 5