An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

A material system in which the → constraints can be expressed in the form of an equation relating the coordinates.

From Gk. → holo- "whole" + -nomic, related to nomos "law, managing, governing, custom," → -nomy; → system.

A mechanical system with constraints on their velocity that are not derivable from position constraints. Nonholonomic systems arise, for instance, in mechanical systems that have rolling contact (for example, the rolling of wheels without slipping) or certain kinds of sliding contact (such as the sliding of skates). They are a remarkable generalization of classical Lagrangian and Hamiltonian systems in which one allows position constraints only.

→ non-; → holonomic; → system.