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Re: New version of my annotations to SRT

From Athel Cornish-Bowden <me@yahoo.com>
Newsgroups sci.physics.relativity
Subject Re: New version of my annotations to SRT
Date 2024-02-15 19:04 +0100
Message-ID <l37221F66goU1@mid.individual.net> (permalink)
References (6 earlier) <def2f0bc24c77d1beb6fa90dd7b3a149@www.novabbs.com> <l338fdFgc98U1@mid.individual.net> <Bn9zN.8681436$ee1.4230449@fx16.ams4> <l35ntaFtdv4U1@mid.individual.net> <rKlzN.8682847$ee1.7408760@fx16.ams4>

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On 2024-02-15 10:32:23 +0000, Paul B. Andersen said:

> Den 15.02.2024 07:10, skrev Thomas Heger:
>>> Den 14.02.2024 08:34, skrev Thomas Heger:
>>>> 
>>>> Einstein's variable names were EXTREMELY annoying!
>>>> 
>>>> For instance:
>>>> he had eight different uses of the letter 'A'.
> 
> 
> In §1 the symbol 'A' is explicitly defined: "the point A of space",
> and this is the only meaning of 'A' in §1 to and including §5.
> 
> In §6 the symbol 'A' is not used.
> 
> In §7 the symbol 'A' is explicitly defined:
>   "we call the amplitude of the electric or magnetic force A"
> and this is the only meaning of 'A' in §7 to and including §10.
> 
> The numbering of an equation (A) is not another use of the symbol 'A'.
> 
> This is two well defined uses of the letter 'A' used to identify
> a physical or mathematical entity.
> 
> Can you name the other six?
> 
> 
>> But both uses within a single text are wrong, because it is not 
>> possible to know, which particular meaning a symbol in an equation has, 
>> if both meanings use the same symbol.
>> 
>> But Einstein gave this another kick and used the same symbol twice with
>> different meanings within a single sentence.
> 
> Can you quote the sentence in question?

I once -- consciously and deliberately -- used the same symbol i with 
two meanings in the same equation, both as an index, as the ith of n 
observations, and as an inhibitor concentration. As both meanings were 
standard, and no one (except perhaps Thomas Heger, if he happened to 
read it) would be confused, I thought it best to keep the equation as 
it was. Nonetheless, I put a footnote saying what I was doing.

-- 
athel -- biochemist, not a physicist, but detector of crackpots

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Re: New version of my annotations to SRT Thomas Heger <ttt_heg@web.de> - 2024-02-15 07:10 +0100
  Re: New version of my annotations to SRT "Paul B. Andersen" <relativity@paulba.no> - 2024-02-15 11:32 +0100
    Re: New version of my annotations to SRT Athel Cornish-Bowden <me@yahoo.com> - 2024-02-15 19:04 +0100

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