I am glad to say that everyone enrolled in the class completed their project report by the end of the 1997 Fall semester. However, many students did not have time to generate their report in a html-compatible format, and so there are only 5 reports posted below.

Topic #1:        (Haifei Zheng)
On page 30 of Goldstein's textbook, he draws attention to a text by Osgood, which apparently includes "delightful" pedagogic material. Goldstein draws particular attention to Osgood's page 102. Write a short critique of the pedagogic style of Osgood's book.
Project Report

Topic #2:        (Kyongok Kang)
Lower down on page 30, Goldstein mentions the famous "Cambridge Tripos" exams and alleges that they were characterized by very pedantic problems. What are/were these exams, and where does the name "Tripos" come from? Identify an especially pedantic problem.
Project Report

Topic #3:        (Nadina Gheorghiu)
On page 64, Goldstein begins his comments on Rund's book by acknowledging that a good deal of what has been written about non-holonomic systems is wrong, including some of what he himself wrote in the first edition of his textbook. He goes on to draw attention to an interesting discussion of "pathological problems encountered in the actual physical world". Discuss these pathological problems without going into mathematical detail.
Project Report

Topic #6:        (Ben Thrams)
Explain, with the least possible mathematical detail, the "operation of the diabolo" (see Goldstein p. 236).
Project Report

Topic #12:      (Aihong Tang)
Goldstein mentions (on page 430) "the highly unorthodox, if not downright dangerous, notion of a canonoid transformation", introduced in the textbook of Saletan & Cromer. As usual, explain the idea keeping mathematical detail to a minimum.
Project Report