For an AP Calculus project, my group is supposed to explain the mathematics of a certain topic. We were interested in gyroscopes, but we were wondering how much actual calculus is involved in the application of gyroscopes, which I’m sure there is.
So in other words, I’m looking for a place to start. I’d like to be able to start some research immediately. Any ideas?
Kleppner and Kolenkow – Introduction to Mechanics – has a good section on gyroscopes. It’s a very mathematical text, though, so you might want to supplement it with other physics texts.
Jear D. Walker, in The Flying Circus of Physics, recomends the following texts, which I have not seen:
The Gyroscope: Theory and Applications by J.B. Scarborough; Wiley Interscence (1958)
** An Elementary Treatment of the Spinning Tops and Gyroscopic Motion ** by H. Crabtree; Chelsea (1967)
** Treatise on Gyroscopes and Rotational Motion** by A. Gray; Dover (1959)
Also, look in Walker for further references. I don’t rust books with “Elementary” in he title since I picked p [b[50 Great Problems in Elementary Mathematics** and culdn’t do a single one. Some people define “elementary” in a diferent wa than I do, I guess.