Some remarks on the paper ‘A unified tensor approach to the analysis of mechanical systems’ by A. A. Fogarasy and M. R. Smith

Abstract

Abstract

The tensor calculus is a powerful mathematical tool in the analysis of mechanical problems (or generally, of problems in physics). The aim of Fogarasy and Smith's ‘A unified tensor approach to the analysis of mechanical systems’ is to demonstrate this fact considering a problem of dynamical analysis of mechanisms. Fogarasy and Smith are applying the traditional approach in tensor calculus, which comes originally from the mathematics. This implies the a priori introduction of coordinates, which is usual in the analysis of mechanisms. Later the tensor calculus is used for the discussion of the basic equations and their mathematical handling. In this sense, the results obtained by Fogarasy and Smith are mathematically correct, and the interested reader can now have many fruitful and stimulating ideas.