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Re: Equation or Formula

Date sent: Thu, 07 Mar 2002 13:15:36 -0600
From: Jack Uretsky <jlu@HEP.ANL.GOV>
Subject: Re: Equation or Formula
To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu
Send reply to: "phys-l@lists.nau.edu: Forum for Physics Educators"
<PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>

What does the dictionary say?
Main Entry: 1for·mu·la {HYPERLINK "javascript:popWin('/cgi-bin/audio.pl?formul01.wav=formula')"}{HYPERLINK "javascript:popWin('/cgi-bin/audio.pl?formul01.wav=formula')"}
Pronunciation: 'for-my&-l&
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -las or for·mu·lae {HYPERLINK "javascript:popWin('/cgi-bin/audio.pl?formul02.wav=formulae')"}{HYPERLINK "javascript:popWin('/cgi-bin/audio.pl?formul02.wav=formulae')"}/-"lE, -"lI/
Etymology: Latin, diminutive of forma form
Date: 1618
1 a : a set form of words for use in a ceremony or ritual b : a conventionalized
statement intended to express some fundamental truth or principle especially as a
basis for negotiation or action
2 a (1) : {HYPERLINK "dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=recipe"}RECIPE (2) : {HYPERLINK "dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=prescription"}PRESCRIPTION b : a milk mixture or substitute for feeding an
infant
3 a : a general fact, rule, or principle expressed in usually mathematical symbols b :
a symbolic expression of the chemical composition or constitution of a substance c :
a group of symbols (as letters and numbers) associated to express concisely facts or
data (as the number and kinds of teeth in the jaw) d : a combination of signs in a
logical calculus
4 : a customary or set form or method allowing little room for originality





On Thu, 7 Mar 2002, Tim O'Donnell wrote:

F = ma
Is this an equation of Formula?
I get the most interesting discussions in class.
It probably doesn't matter, but is there a difference?


--
"But as much as I love and respect you, I will beat you and
I will kill you, because that is what I must do. Tonight it
is only you and me, fish. It is your strength against my
intelligence. It is a veritable potpourri of metaphor,
every nuance of which is fraught with meaning."
Greg Nagan from "The Old Man and the
Sea" in <The 5-MINUTE ILIAD and Other
Classics>