PHYS 3601 — Classical Dynamics

4 semester hoursUndergraduateLectureNUpath NDusually offered: fall, springtypical days: WBostonTraditional

Covers advanced topics in classical mechanics including vector kinematics, harmonic oscillator and resonance, generalized coordinates, Lagrange’s equations, central forces and the Kepler problem, rigid body motion, and mathematical methods in physics.

Prerequisites

all of:
- one of:
  - PHYS 1155 (min D-)
  - PHYS 1165 (min D-)
  - PHYS 1175 (min D-)
- one of:
  - MATH 2341 (min D-) (may be taken concurrently)
  - MATH 315M
  - MATH 2351 (min D-) (may be taken concurrently)

Offering history

Term	Sections	Enrolled	Capacity	Full	Open seats/section
Fall 2023	1	14	48	29%	34.0
Spring 2024	1	44	48	92%	4.0
Fall 2024	1	19	48	40%	29.0
Spring 2025	1	31	48	65%	17.0
Fall 2025	1	27	48	56%	21.0
Spring 2026	1	28	48	58%	20.0

Snapshots from scheduled scrapes — not live seat availability. "Full" can exceed 100% when sections over-enroll.

Meeting times

Share of recent sections by weekday: M 37% · T 0% · W 71% · Th 42% · F 0%

Common patterns: W (46% of sections), MWR (25% of sections), R (17% of sections), M (12% of sections) — in patterns, R means Thursday

Professors

Fall

Michele Di Pierro (68% of students) · reviews
Ismet Altunkaynak (32% of students) · reviews

Spring

Armen Stepanyants (73% of students) · reviews
Camille Gomez-Laberge (27% of students) · reviews

Percentages are each professor's average share of the season's enrolled students in recent terms.

Links

Official catalog (PHYS course descriptions) · Student reviews on RateMyHusky · All PHYS courses · Plan it at numap.app