ABSTRACT
The material contained in this chapter is elementary but its thorough grasp and good working knowledge is essential in understanding and learning the material contained in the remaining chapters. First we consider notations. The main purpose of notations is to present information related to the deforming matter in the mathematical form. The notations must be compact, concise and consistent so that abstraction and yet accuracy of the actual information may be maintained in the mathematical description of the information. The commonly used notations in continuum mechanics are Einstein notations, matrix and vector notations and index notations. Generally, it is a matter of preference as to which notation one uses. However, there are some advantages in matrix and vector notations, especially when the mathematical models resulting from continuum mechanics principles describing evolutions are solved numerically using computational mechanics. In this chapter we consider and use all of these notations. In this book we do not strictly adhere to one specific form of notations but rather consider a mix of these for maintaining clarity of presentation and ease of understanding, keeping in mind that this material must be easily reproducible in the classroom environment as well.
