Editing Mechanics (section)

=== Antiquity ===
{{Main|Aristotelian mechanics}}
The ancient [[Greek philosophy|Greek philosophers]] were among the first to propose that abstract principles govern nature. The main theory of mechanics in antiquity was [[Aristotelian mechanics]], though an alternative theory is exposed in the [[Pseudo-Aristotle|pseudo-Aristotelian]] ''[[Mechanics (Aristotle)|Mechanical Problems]]'', often attributed to one of his successors.

There is another tradition that goes back to the ancient Greeks where mathematics is used more extensively to analyze bodies [[Statics|statically]] or [[Dynamics (mechanics)|dynamically]], an approach that may have been stimulated by prior work of the Pythagorean [[Archytas]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Zhmud|first=L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=of-ghBD9q1QC|title=Pythagoras and the Early Pythagoreans|publisher=OUP Oxford|year=2012|isbn=978-0-19-928931-8|language=en}}</ref> Examples of this tradition include pseudo-[[Euclid]] (''On the Balance''), [[Archimedes]] (''On the Equilibrium of Planes'', ''On Floating Bodies''), [[Hero of Alexandria|Hero]] (''Mechanica''), and [[Pappus of Alexandria|Pappus]] (''Collection'', Book VIII).<ref>"''[https://books.google.com/books?id=vPT-JubW-7QC&pg=PA19 A history of mechanics]''". René Dugas (1988). p.19. {{ISBN|0-486-65632-2}}</ref><ref name="mechanics">"[http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2008/01/a_tiny_taste_of_the_history_of.html A Tiny Taste of the History of Mechanics]". The University of Texas at Austin.</ref>