Re: How can I tell if F is a string or if it is a number?
- From: tchow@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: 15 Apr 2008 16:08:49 GMT
In article <e21146b9-0582-4925-9ca1-5b4e5f5e63fa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Pioneer1 <1pioneer1@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I agree. If F is an abbreviation it would have no meaning other than
being an abbreviation. Since in physics meaning comes from observation
and F does not enter computations of orbits, it is a meaningless
abbreviation, as I see it.
No. F is not an abbreviation, not even a meaningless one.
For instance, if I start by writing mR/T2 =
ma, are there two different physical quantities here? One mR/T2 and
another ma? To me, No. ma is an abbreviation for mR/T2. The same way F
is an abbreviation for ma. mR/T2 --> ma --> F.
No. ma is not an abbreviation for mR/T^2. F is not an abbreviation
for ma.
But force does not enter any formulas used to describe orbits. It's
written down as an abbreviation and then cancelled.
No. Force is not an abbreviation.
It does not have
an observational presence, it does not assert something more than "F
is an abbreviation for m*a." I don't know if you agree with this.
I do not agree. F is not an abbreviation.
You might disagree with Newtonian mechanics; that is your choice. However,
you should at least form a correct understanding of what it is that you are
disagreeing with. By asserting that F is an abbreviation, you are simply
demonstrating your lack of understanding of what Newtonian mechanics
asserts, and therefore you cannot coherently formulate any objection to it.
If I can substitute F for ma then it appears that F = ma is an
identity: ma = ma? Is this correct?
No. The assertion that F = ma is not the same as the assertion that ma = ma.
For example, consider "George Bush is the president of the United States."
The name "George Bush" is *not* just an abbreviation for "the president
of the United States." The statement that "George Bush is the president
of the United States" conveys information that the statement "the president
of the United States is the president of the United States" does not. Just
because you can take the sentence "The president of the United States will
greet the Pope at the airport" and replace "the president of the United
States" with "George Bush" to obtain "George Bush will greet the Pope at
the airport" does *not* mean that "George Bush" is an *abbreviation* for
"the president of the United States." The ability to substitute does not
imply that one is an *abbreviation* of the other.
In contrast, "GWB" *is* an abbreviation of "George W. Bush."
--
Tim Chow tchow-at-alum-dot-mit-dot-edu
The range of our projectiles---even ... the artillery---however great, will
never exceed four of those miles of which as many thousand separate us from
the center of the earth. ---Galileo, Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences
.
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