title: The Conceptual Foundations of the Statistical Approach in Mechanics (Dover Books on Physics)
author:  Paul Ehrenfest 
description: Text: English (translation)<br> Original Language: German
zlib_text: ![cover](images/cover.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES IN
  
  
  STATISTICAL MECHANICS
  
  
  ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES IN
  
  
  STATISTICAL MECHANICS
  
  
  J. WILLARD GIBBS
  
  
  _L ATE PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS IN YALE UNIVERSITY_
  
  
  DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.
  
  
  MINEOLA, NEW YORK
  
  
  _Bibliographical Note_
  
  
  This Dover edition, first published in 2014, is an unabridged republication of
  the work first published by Yale University Press in 1902 and reprinted by
  Dover Publications, Inc., in 1960.
  
  
  _International Standard Book Number_
  
  
  _eISBN-13: 978-0-486-79915-5_
  
  
  Manufactured in the United States by Courier Corporation
  
  
  78995001 2014
  
  
  [www.doverpublications.com](http://www.doverpublications.com)
  
  
  PREFACE.
  
  
  THE usual point of view in the study of mechanics is that where the attention
  is mainly directed to the changes which take place in the course of time in a
  given system. The principal problem is the determination of the condition of
  the system with respect to configuration and velocities at any requ