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Re: Elastic potential energy

It's a pity that arbitrariness of PE is always discussed >only with
reference to the gravitational PE near the Earth. There >the PE is
linear, so when you translate the origin only a >constant term arises,
which can be cancelled out by an additive constant.

I agree. I see my mistake (feeling rather silly) in not recognizing that 1/2 kx^2 comes from an integral where (typically) the force is zero at the origin. I think it would be a useful discussion in a calculus-based introductory text. (Any textbook writers out there?)

Thanks for the comments

Justin Parke