Posted by alexandra_k on January 24, 2015, at 17:24:11
In reply to Re: uh oh?, posted by ClearSkies on January 17, 2015, at 11:15:49
thanks.
i think i'm starting to understand some of the basic math stuff that everything else is built on.
unit conversions... the idea of an inversely proportional relationship... as one increases by a factor the other decreases by one over the factor... which makes it smaller... a decimal... less than one... whereas dividing a number by 1 is just that same number...
and inverse square laws...
and area... and about how half base times height isn't specifically about (half base) times heigher... it is syntactically equivalent to (base times height) divided by 2 (same as times 1/2 or .5) just reading things...
2 pi r... looks odd, too... it isn't (2 times pi) times radius... it is more that it is 2 x the radius (because we really want the diameter) times pi (which is just the number you get when you divide circumference by diameter and hence the number you multiply diameter by in order to get the circumference).
anyway...
i'm also starting to see how having the equation is one thing... but the equations aren't 'in their most general form' (I think that is the problem). so... it is problematic to figure out which equation you need... because you need to know about the constraints or assumptions of the equation. for instance... it might take a mg value... or it might not... you might need to normalize mg by taking the... uh... sin of the angle and use that value in the mg place in the equation...
of course... if you really understand the relationship between the physical quantities... equations are.... easily remembered. or made up. or something. sigh.
i have learned so very much this year.
poster:alexandra_k
thread:1058481
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20141123/msgs/1075476.html