Re: How can I tell if F is a string or if it is a number?

On Apr 11, 4:09 pm, tc...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

 Force does not enter the picture at all in this setup.

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. 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.

. . . it must assert something more than "F is an
abbreviation for m*a" since the latter tells us nothing about nature.

But force does not enter any formulas used to describe orbits. It's
written down as an abbreviation and then cancelled. 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.

Again, I'm not trying to defend your argument, but trying to help you
articulate it more clearly.

Yes, thanks, that's helpful. But I think about it this way. There is a
true proportionality discovered by Kepler from observations. This
proportionality is R3=T2. If we break this proportionality and write
it as 1/R2 no matter what we label 1/R2 this 1/R2 will not work. This
is not a true proportionality. Same is true for R/T2. In order to do
orbit computations we must combine these two by eliminating the
placeholders or abbreviations we named these non-working statements.
This is how I see the problem. Correct me if I am wrong. That's why
I've been looking for an analogous situation from computer science
because in programming types are well-defined unlike in physics.

Also I don't believe that F_contact = F_occult is possible. You cannot
equate an occult quantity with its non-occult version. If we could do
that we can reinstate astrology to be physics. Astrology too is based
on an occult force very similar to Newton's occult force. The occult
astrological influx is assumed to exist between humans and celestial
objects. Newton generalized this occult influx between humans and
celestial objects to be an influx between the Earth and celestial
objects and then between all objects.

then you can
substitute one for the other, even though one is not merely an abbreviation
for the other.

If I can substitute F for ma then it appears that F = ma is an
identity: ma = ma? Is this correct?

Thanks again.
.

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