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Re: Magnitude of average velocity



The averaging operator is a red herring here. The problem is with the
magnitude of vectors operator (as Bob points out below)

The reason may put as follows:
The magnitude of a vector operator isn't linear.

Joel Rauber

-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Sciamanda [mailto:trebor@VELOCITY.NET]
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 12:31 PM
To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu
Subject: Re: Magnitude of average velocity


1) Why is the average of the
magnitude of a vector not the same as the magnitude of the average?

Answer with a simple counter example:
Take the two vectors A and -A (two vectors of equal magnitude and
antiparallel in direction).
The average of their magnitudes is |A|. The magnitude of
their average is
zero.

Bob Sciamanda
Physics, Edinboro Univ of PA (em)
trebor@velocity.net
http://www.velocity.net/~trebor