KINEMATICS IN EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN TEXTBOOKS OF THEORETICAL MECHANICS

：This paper explores the pedagogical treatments of kinematics in European and American textbooks of theoretical mechanics. 10 textbooks written by the masters of mechanics in France, British, Germany and the US are reviewed to show the historical evolution of teaching materials of kinematics. The motion of points, the motion of rigid-bodies, and the composite motions are analyzed for 7 American textbooks, 2 Germany textbooks and a Russian textbook. Based on the analysis, a few features are highlighted for possible references.