There are also four appendices. Let K be a field of characteristic 0, and let C be a commutative K-algebra. which makes C into a Lie algebra, and is a biderivation (i.e. a derivation in each argument). The pair C, {−, −} is called a Poisson algebra. Poisson brackets arise in several ways. Example 1.1. Classical Hamiltonian mechanics. Here K = R, X is an even dimensional differentiable manifold ...