MIT Subject Evaluations

8.351J/6.946J/12.620J:
Variational Mechanics: A Computational Approach
Fall 1998 Summary

Lecturer: Professor Gerald Sussman
Lecturer: Professor Jack Wisdom

Enrollment: 5
Number of students commenting: 5

8.351J is a graduate-level course covering classical mechanics in a computational framework. Overall, these students seemed to enjoy the class greatly.

Many students commented that they liked the content of the course, as well. They viewed the class material as interesting, lively, and having the correct amount of mathematical rigor for non-mathematicians. One, however, wanted to move more quickly through the classical mechanics in the first half.

Professor Gerald Sussman and Professor Jack Wisdom, the instructors for this class, received excellent reviews from their students. The majority of the class members noted their clear delivery, and students appreciated their enthusiasm, friendliness, preparedness, and found them very encouraging. One class member commented that the use of notation was quite different from what they had expected.

The main text of the class is written by the professors. According to one student, this "should not inspire dread. They have a very complete understanding of the subject and what is important." In addition, class members cited the use of computers as helping to improve their understanding of the material. One student expressed a wish for a recitation section.

Overall, while the sample size of students is admittedly small, those who took 8.351J learned a lot and had an excellent time.

A few sample quotes from class members:

"Easy to know exactly how to do calculations (often not true in physics classes)."

"Keep up the spirit!"