mathematicalstructure of the subject or in its use in engineering applications and in the latter case, whether essentially numerical or analytical methods are envisaged as the solution method. My first introduction to the subject was in response to a need for information about a specific problem in Tribology. As a practising engineer with a background only in elementary Strength of Materials, I approached that problem initially using the con­ cepts of concentrated forces and superposition. Today, with a rather more extensive knowledge of analytical techniques in Elasticity, I still find it helpful to go back to these roots in the elementary theory and think through a problem physically as well as mathematically, whenever some new and unexpected feature presents difficulties in research. This way of thinking will be found to permeate this book. My engineering background will also reveal itself in a tendency to work examples through to final expressions for stresses and displacements, rather than leave the derivation at a point where the remaining manipulations would be routine. With the practical engineering reader in mind, I have endeavoured to keep to a minimum any dependence on previous knowledge of Solid Mechanics, Continuum Mechanics or Mathematics.

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